Saiyaara and the rise of The Rish: how "Barbaad" broke out

Every so often a film song does two things at once: it becomes a hit, and it makes a star of the person who wrote it. "Barbaad" from Saiyaara (2025) is one of those songs. A nearly six-minute heartbreak ballad, it gave Bollywood one of the year's most-streamed tracks — and announced a new composer, The Rish.

The song

"Barbaad" — meaning "ruined" or "devastated" — is a portrait of love turning into wreckage. Sung by Jubin Nautiyal and released by YRF Music on 10 June 2025, it runs 5:57, unusually long for a film single. Its restrained arrangement, coloured by traditional saaz and sarangi, leaves space for Nautiyal's understated voice to carry the ache. The Rish has described its arc as "a journey from hesitation to surrender" — and then to heartbreak.

The breakout of The Rish

What makes "Barbaad" notable beyond the charts is its writer. The Rish — the stage name of Rishabh Kant — composed and wrote the song, his breakthrough as a Bollywood composer. He came to film music by an unusual route, performing in an English alt/rock band and releasing independent music before this moment. He describes his style not by genre but by feeling, calling it "the genre of emotion" — a blend of classical Indian melody and new-age pop. For a single song to establish a composer's name on a Yash Raj Films soundtrack is the kind of debut most artists spend years chasing.

Jubin Nautiyal, the right voice

Casting matters in heartbreak songs, and Jubin Nautiyal was the right voice. One of Bollywood's most popular playback singers — behind hits like "Raataan Lambiyan" and "Lut Gaye" — he brings a classically trained restraint that serves the song rather than showing off. "Barbaad" gave him one of the standout vocal showcases of his career.

A Mohit Suri film, which means the music matters

It is no accident that the song came from a Mohit Suri film. Suri has built a career on soundtracks that outlast the films themselves, repeatedly turning heartbreak ballads into long-running hits. Handing a relatively unknown composer the emotional centrepiece of one of his films is a vote of confidence — and a reminder that Suri's films function as launchpads for music careers as much as acting ones. A female reprise of "Barbaad" by Shilpa Rao on the same soundtrack underlined how central the song was to the film's identity.

A soundtrack worth knowing

"Barbaad" anchors a strong Saiyaara soundtrack, which also includes the title track "Saiyaara" (Faheem Abdullah), "Tum Ho Toh" (Vishal Mishra), "Humsafar" (Sachet-Parampara) and "Dhun" (Arijit Singh, composed by Mithoon). Saiyaara itself, directed by Mohit Suri and introducing debutants Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, reached cinemas on 18 July 2025 — and, in keeping with Suri's career, the music was a major part of its identity.

Why it broke out

"Barbaad" succeeded because every element pulled in the same direction: a director with a track record for music-driven films, a singer who could carry restrained emotion, and a young composer with a clear point of view. In an era where many film songs are engineered for instant virality, a slow, almost six-minute ballad breaking out is a useful reminder that audiences still reward genuine feeling. It is also a launchpad — the kind of debut that turns a new composer into a name to watch.

For more on cross-language pop crossovers, see our piece on Sapphire by Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh. Or start with the song itself: "Barbaad" by Jubin Nautiyal.