Darshan Raval has been making monsoon songs for a decade — a tradition so beloved by his fans, the self-styled Blue Family, that its two-year absence was keenly felt.
So, when 'Barsaat Lagdi Ae' was announced this year, marking his return to the ritual, the poster had fans bracing for heartbreak. What they got instead was a soulful, unabashedly romantic pop track; that, Raval says, was exactly the point.
Raval started writing poems in the fourth standard and tunes by the seventh or eighth. His father used to tell him it was just a hobby, one he’d eventually outgrow. That day hasn’t come.
In the years since, Raval has moved freely between independent music, Bollywood, Gujarati tracks and South Indian film music, guided by a single, unfussy rule: does he feel the song? The result is a discography built for both parties and break-ups, and a fan base that has, quite literally, grown up alongside him.
Discussing his newest arrival 'Barsaat Lagdi Ae', Raval spoke to THR India about pre-release nerves, the tribute hidden in his new music video, whether marriage changes how he writes love songs, and the kind of music he’s still waiting to try.
There’s a ritual anxiety, Raval says, in the hours before a release. “I’m very jittery before the release and more happy after. The kind of love I get — how people are waiting for a song, counting days to the release, and then finally it comes out. It feels like a dream.”
'Barsaat Lagdi Ae', with its tone, energy, and primarily its promotions, caught his audience off guard. "People felt, from the poster, that it’s going to be one more sad song, and it turns out to be completely opposite — a groovy song where you can just have fun," Raval says. He’s glad they stayed for it.
The monsoon tradition itself, he says, was never calculated. “Like every big thing, it started out of nowhere, because I feel really connected to monsoons,” he explains. That connection traces back to Ahmedabad, and afternoons spent with his mother while she cooked on rainy days — a memory that seems to have shaped his musical instincts as much as anything he later learned.
“All the magical moments are around monsoon,” he says. “When I came to Mumbai for the first time, for a reality show, it was raining. When my wife came to Mumbai for the first time, and we met, it was raining as well.”
On tour, he jokes, he’s arrived in cities under clear skies only for it to start raining soon after. “I’m not saying I’m actually a rain man,” he clarifies with a laugh, “But that’s what we tried to get into the music video as well.”
He released monsoon songs for 10 straight years before a two-year break — one that was as unplanned as the return. “We were making music, and we hadn’t thought about it — then this melody came out of nowhere. We thought, 'Okay, let’s do a monsoon song this year’.” As for the unexpectedly upbeat register: “People expect sad songs because that’s a forte for me, and I also really love making sad songs. But in the studio, I don’t think about whether it’s a sad song or a love song. Whatever feels right at that moment is the song I release."
The video’s origin is its own bit of monsoon magic. Director Yuvraj Singh of Khopcha Film, pitching Raval on a concept, had studied his back catalogue and concluded every kind of monsoon romance had already been done.
“At that particular moment — see how magical this is — it started raining. Water started leaking from the ceiling. That’s when he thought, ‘What if the monsoon follows two people, and the forces of nature try to make them meet?’” Raval and his team read the pitch on a trip to Amsterdam and fell for it instantly. The crew, he notes with pride, skewed young — their DoP is 21. “I’m just so happy that such a young team could bring an idea alive that was next to impossible to shoot in a limited timeframe and area. They just killed it,” he gushes.
Raval also hid something in the video for the Blue Family — the fan community that has organically grown since 2014. “It’s actually like a family who’s been there with me for so many years. I don’t just say that; these people really mean a lot to me.”
What moves him most is watching them grow up alongside him. “When they joined, they were young kids — somebody was in school, somebody just starting college. Now it's emotional for me to see a lot of them have jobs, are running businesses, and those who were small kids are preparing for their boards. It’s an outstanding journey.”
More than a decade in, does the job still weigh on him? “Pressure is there; I won’t lie. But when we’re in the studio, we try not to bring that pressure in; we try to be as real as possible and create what we actually want.” Some of that pressure is quieter: the instinct to give the Blue Family what they expect from him.
His approach to picking songs has never bent to genre, language or industry. “I’ve rejected so many big songs just because I didn’t like them. When there’s a good song, I never ask what film it’s for, or who it’s for. The choice is to do music that really affects me, so I can put my emotions into it, and it affects the people who are going to listen.”
That instinct, he says, is what’s led him to hits as varied as 'Chogada' and 'Tera Zikr'. On where film music is headed, he holds one conviction across the years: “If it’s a good melody, it might take time to reach people, but it will always reach the right people.”
He points to tracks he used to perform at concerts to no recognition, until it slowly caught on. “If it’s a good song, an honest song... it’s going to reach people.”
On the effect of his marriage on his love songs, he’s amused by the assumption. A lot of comments said that now that he’s married, he’s not going to bring sad songs. Not true, he says. “My music is about what I see, what I feel about life, about people, what’s happening with me and around me. So, yes, marriage impacts me — but that impact is only going to make songs.”
What comes next is Raval's 2026 India tour, the Love Letters India Tour, later this year. He is set to perform in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai, and Raval says he's excited to meet his Blue Family live once again.