Vishal Bhardwaj: I Cannot Work Without Tabu

Vishal Bhardwaj speaks up on his latest musical venture, ‘Darlings’. He opens up about why he dedicates his song ‘La Illaaj’ to Tabu, with whom he has worked in multiple projects.

Prateek Sur

Updated on: 8 August 2022 3:58 pm

Vishal Bhardwaj And Tabu

Netflix India’s dark comedy ‘Darlings’ released its love ballad titled ‘La Ilaaj’, and the song has stirred up a great response from the audiences on social media. Buzz about the song, which is a collective effort by veteran lyricist Gulzar, music composer Vishal Bhardwaj and singer Arijit Singh, started to trend on social media platforms even before it was officially released. The song was one of the most memorable ones from ‘Darlings’.

At the song launch in Delhi, Vishal Bhardwaj and the cast members were asked to dedicate the song to a special person and the ‘Haider’ director was quick to say, “I would like to dedicate this song to Tabu for the reason, you know, she is ‘La Ilaaj’ for me and I like that. Main uske bina kaam nahi kar sakta (I cannot work without her).”

Bhardwaj also shared a sweet anecdote from when Shah Rukh Khan (who has co-produced ‘Darlings’) got jealous about the song and expressed how he wishes the song was written for him.

I would like to share a small incident related to the song. When it was ready, I got a call from Shah Rukh Khan one night out of the blue. It was 12/12:30ish at night and I was awake as well. He picked up the phone and started singing the song; didn’t even say ‘Hello’. He sang the whole song and started to narrate the meaning of it. And then he said that it would have been all the more wonderful had the song been written for him," said Bhardwaj.

"I felt so nice that he was being jealous about it… it was very nice of him to do that—listen to the song, and call to appreciate it. I think this is what we all artists want in our lives. Hume sirf appreciation chahiye (We all look for appreciation),” shared the composer.

‘Darlings’ was released on August 5 on Netflix and has received rave reviews from critics all over.