4 min readNew DelhiSep 23, 2025 03:12 PM IST
Daboo Malik, the brother of music composer Anu Malik, spoke about the financial hardships that he experienced for several years, and revealed that he had to liquidate all his assets in order to give his children, Amaal and Armaan Malik, a proper education. He said that his own father, Sardar Malik, denied him and his brothers an education in music after his career stalled. But he insisted that Daboo do everything in his power to provide the best education in music that he could for Amaal and Armaan. But Daboo wasn’t doing well financially, and was forced to ask for odd jobs from singers he’d previously worked with as a music composer himself.
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Daboo said that his career didn’t take off as he’d have liked, while at the same time, Anu touched astronomical heights. Anu’s success didn’t rub off on Daboo; in fact, the gap between them only grew. “I was leading a fake life. I didn’t want to show the world that I was destroyed. I’ll tell you one story: I’d reached such a low point in my struggle that I approached a very famous singer, and asked her if she’d give me work in her live shows. I offered to sing a song or two, or do some stand-up. This was a singer I had worked with before on many songs. She agreed, and the next day, someone from her team called and told me that a train ticket had been booked for me along with the other musicians.”
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Daboo was offended. “Instead of showing me respect, they kicked me while I was down. When you hit rock-bottom, people can smell it, and they take advantage of you. I didn’t do the show,” he said, adding, “I was never made to feel like I belong in the film industry. In my loneliness, I witnessed my brother’s stupendous success, and on the other hand, I was disintegrating. It was a long journey. People don’t know that for 15-20 years, I had nothing.”
Daboo said that he is very proud of his sons’ achievements, and he thanked them for providing him with all the joys that he had never experienced in his own career. “Today, one son gifts me a car, the other son gifts me a bigger car; one son gifts me a watch, the other gets me a more expensive watch. They have this fire in them to give me everything that I never got in my career. I know what I’ve done for them. When my father was dying, he told me never to deny them the musical education that was denied to me and my brothers. So, I sold off my property, my houses, my jewellery, I liquidated all my assets to send Armaan to Boston and to get Amaal all the education he needs.”
Daboo also credited his wife, Jyoti, for taking the responsibility for the family when the going got tough. She took on a job as a teacher, and became the primary breadwinner for the family. Amaal is currently appearing as a contestant on the reality show Bigg Boss, hosted by Salman Khan.
Daboo Malik started out as an actor, then transitioned to singing and music composing. (Express Archive)