 Darbar introduced Mehboob to filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma and he began his song writing career with Varma's 1992 film Drohi whose music was composed by R. D. Burman.He then worked with A.R.Rahman on Varma's Rangeela.Rahman liked his work and introduced him to Mani Ratnam and Mehboob penned the lyrics for the Hindi (dubbed) version of Bombay.