4 min readNew DelhiMay 13, 2026 08:00 PM IST
In her new vlog, filmmaker Farah Khan visited the Mumbai home of noted music composer Ismail Darbar, known for albums like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Khamoshi: The Musical, and more. The tour also featured Darbar’s wife, Ayesha, and sons Zaid and Imaan. The video opens with the entrance featuring a wall adorned with artificial Chinese grass and aesthetic mirrors. The nameplate read, “Ayesha Ismail Darbar.”
Rustic living space
As Farah stepped inside, the entrance gallery reflected a cosy 90s Bollywood charm. A whiteboard mounted on one wall held several hanging keys. The musician further joked that they belonged to cars lying unused in the garage. Opposite it, mirrors in ornate gold frames in multiple sizes added a decorative touch to the space.
Mirrors in ornate gold frames (Photo: Farah Khan/YouTube)The corridor opened into a warm and antique living area featuring a dining table, plush sofas, and a television setup. The house is coloured in green and yellow hues on the walls, with golden-toned decor items attached to the ceiling. The living area also featured several prestigious awards won by Darbar in his career spanning more than two decades. Among them was Darbar’s National Film Award for Best Music Direction for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
Hanging lanterns, photo gallery
One wall of the house featured the family photo gallery, lined with pictures of the Darbar family. Decorative elements such as hanging lanterns and wind chimes gave the ceiling a maximalist yet balanced aesthetic, while indoor plants are perfect for regulating temperatures in extreme humid Mumbai weather.
The kitchen exudes vintage charm with rustic lighting, giving it an inviting feel. Beige and cyan kitchen cabinets added a stylish contrast to the timeless decor. The dining area overlooked the kitchen through a rectangular opening, enhancing the open-plan layout and making the compact home feel more spacious.
Vintage kitchen, Ismail Darbar’s house tour (Photo: Farah Khan/YouTube)
At the junction connecting the corridor and living room stood a black piano draped with a red velvet cloth. Above it, shelves displayed more trophies, including the IIFA Black Lady award. The corridor further extended toward the private rooms of the house.
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Sachin Gupta, Founder and Principal Designer at Beyond Designs, highlighted how storytelling is central to modern interior designs. He shared that a home should reflect the emotional history of the family living in it rather than resemble a perfectly styled showroom. “A showroom, however beautiful, is still a cold place to live,” he said, further explaining that heirlooms, collected art, travel memories, and everyday rituals are what truly shape a meaningful space.
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Emotional value in design
Gupta also emphasised that emotional value in design comes from understanding a family’s identity and translating it into interiors that feel deeply personal. “When you get it right, a home feels inevitable,” he noted.
Discussing grand yet intimate spaces, Gupta highlighted restraint as the key design principle. He stressed that grandeur should never overpower human comfort. “The moment a room starts performing grandeur for its own sake, it loses the human being at the centre of it,” he explained.
However, balancing visually rich interiors and clutter-free spaces is not easy. Gupta revealed the one practical discipline to align maximalism with space: sequencing. “In every room, we decide the hierarchy of what the eye should meet first, what it discovers next, and what it rests on. When that sequence is designed with intention, a visually rich space feels orchestrated rather than overwhelming. The richness becomes something you explore gradually, not something that confronts you all at once,” he said.
