Laqshay Kapoor on the Success of ‘Dil Se Dil Tak’ and His New Song ‘Dil Paagal’

In something of a “miracle” as singer Laqshay Kapoor calls it, “Dil Se Dil Tak,” a song he sang — composed by Akashdeep Sengupta with lyrics written by Kausar Munir for the movie Bawal in 2023 — gave him a boost to start the new year.

Kapoor says social media had a big role to play in pushing the love song into Spotify charts, peaking at the 51st spot among the most streamed songs in India. He says “Dil Se Dil Tak” became “10 times bigger” through creators and pages making Reels and using the song for their audio. “If you see the graph of the stream, it took a massive dip and then in December it picked out of nowhere and it’s been going on since then.”

The singer estimates that the song had about 5 lakh streams per day on all major platforms after going viral on Instagram. Kapoor, who has now released a new song “Dil Paagal” via T-Series, says having a playback project spawn a hit means “the journey becomes more easier” as an artist and he hopes it puts his name in front of more “renowned composers.” He gives all credit to “Dil Se Dil Tak” being a song that has a beautiful melody. He also credits Bawaal music supervisor Azeem Dayani, who “curated the song” and brought it into the film in a new way. “If he wasn’t there probably my voice wouldn’t be in the song,” Kapoor adds.  

Even with a big, visible film song to his name now, Kapoor says he’ll continue “experimenting with new and different genres” with his projects outside of the film soundtrack space. “That’s something which is happening all the time,” he adds. Last week’s “Dil Paagal” has already hit three million views on YouTube, with the song composed by Mukund Suryawanshi, plus lyrics by Abhendra Upadhyay and Vaishnavi Thakur.

Although Kapoor says the film music space has some uncertainties about it (“nothing is sure till the time a song releases”), he promises more solo releases like “Dil Paagal,” whose music video was shot in Kerala. He calls the recent release as “one of the best songs, best melodies ever made.” He adds, “Although I wish the song was in a movie, it has my face now so it becomes more special to me.”

Watch the video for “Dil Paagal”