Best Hindi Indie Songs: 20 Tracks From Indipop to Now

Hindi indie songs were not a playlist category until fairly recently. For most of the 1990s, a Hindi song without a film attached was "Indipop", sold on cassette and on music television, and it had to get by without a film's marketing. Today independent Hindi songwriting is a big part of what Indians stream. This list follows that line from the Indipop years to the bedroom-pop present: twenty released songs, each sung mainly in Hindi or Hindustani, each made outside the film system, and each available to stream on Apple Music in India at the time of writing.

It is a song list, not a band list. For the groups behind many of these tracks, see Hindi indie bands. For the wider multilingual picture, see Indian indie songs, and for the romantic end, Indian indie love songs. We do not reproduce lyrics here; where a title needs explaining, our Indian indie song meanings guide covers it.

The Indipop foundations (1996–2000)

1. Lucky Ali – "O Sanam" (1996). The opening track of Sunoh, and still the song most people name first when asked about non-film Hindi music. An easy, travelling groove and a voice that never pushes. It showed a Hindi pop song could work without a film behind it. Lucky Ali; Lucky Ali songs.

2. Silk Route – "Dooba Dooba" (1998). From Boondein, with Mohit Chauhan singing years before film playback made him famous. Soft rock built around acoustic guitar, made for college hostels and long bus rides. Silk Route / Mohit Chauhan.

3. Euphoria – "Maaeri" (2000). Palash Sen's band was the loudest face of Hindi pop-rock at the turn of the century, and "Maaeri", from the album Phir Dhoom, is its tender exception, a song addressed to a mother. Euphoria.

4. Indian Ocean – "Ma Rewa" (2000). From Kandisa. A Narmada folk song stretched into a long, rhythm-led jam, and the clearest example of how Indian Ocean treated Hindi folk material as the song itself rather than decoration. Indian Ocean; band story.

The rock revival (2010–2019)

5. Raghu Dixit – "Hey Bhagwan" (2010). From Antaragni – The Fire Within. Raghu Dixit is better known for Kannada folk-rock, but this Hindi song shows the same open-throated delivery. A reworked version also appears on Courtyard Jam Sessions (2019). Raghu Dixit.

6. Swarathma – "Ghum" (2012). From the Bengaluru band's second album, Topiwalleh. Theatrical, chant-like and built for crowds, it captures the band's habit of turning social observation into singalongs. Swarathma.

7. The Local Train – "Choo Lo" (2015). From Aalas Ka Pedh, released on 25 September 2015. Probably the defining Hindi rock song of the streaming era's first years, and the one crowds most often sing back at the band. The Local Train; band profile.

8. The Local Train – "Aaoge Tum Kabhi" (2015). From the same album, and the quieter counterpart: a song of waiting that let the band reach listeners who never went to rock gigs.

9. Taba Chake – "Shaayad" (2018). From Bombay Dreams. The Arunachal singer-songwriter moves between Nyishi, Hindi and English across the album; "Shaayad" is the Hindi song that travelled furthest. Taba Chake.

10. Lifafa – "Nikamma" (2019). From the album Jaago, the solo project of Peter Cat Recording Co.'s Suryakant Sawhney. Hindi lyrics over warm, woozy synths: proof that Hindi indie did not have to mean acoustic guitar. Lifafa.

11. Parvaaz – "Soye Ja." (2019). From Kun. The Kashmiri-rooted band sing in Hindustani and Kashmiri over long psychedelic builds; this is one of their most patient songs. Parvaaz.

The bedroom-pop decade (2017–present)

12. Prateek Kuhad – "Tum Jab Paas" (2017). Released as a single in April 2017. A near-whispered Hindi love song that set the template for a decade of close-miked singer-songwriters. Prateek Kuhad; Prateek Kuhad songs.

13. Ritviz – "Udd Gaye" (2017). Collected on the Ved EP. Hindi vocals over festival-ready electronic production; it made Ritviz one of the first Hindi-language electronic artists with a mass audience. Ritviz.

14. Osho Jain – "Khoobsurat" (2017). His first release, a single from May 2017. A baritone ballad that stands out in a field full of tenors. Osho Jain; profile.

15. Prateek Kuhad – "Kasoor" (2020). A June 2020 single, later reworked acoustically on the 2021 EP Shehron Ke Raaz. Brighter than "Tum Jab Paas", and his biggest Hindi song since.

16. Anuv Jain – "Gul" (2021). A July 2021 single. Anuv Jain's fragile, almost spoken voice and a bare arrangement. His earlier single "Baarishein" (first released in 2016 according to Apple's catalogue) is the other place to start. Anuv Jain; profile.

17. Mitraz – "Akhiyaan" (2022). The Gorakhpur duo's February 2022 single: soft vocals over minimal pop, and the song that took them beyond the bedroom-pop niche. Mitraz.

18. Aditya Rikhari – "Samjho Na" (2022). A February 2022 single from a songwriter who built an audience almost entirely through streaming. Simple, conversational Hindi and a hook that does not try too hard.

19. Anuv Jain – "Husn" (2023). Released as a single in December 2023. Barely any arrangement, and restraint is the whole point.

20. Faheem Abdullah & Rauhan Malik – "Ishq" (2024). From the album Lost;Found. A Srinagar voice with ghazal phrasing over modern indie-pop production; first issued as a single in March 2024 before the album arrived in May. Faheem Abdullah; profile.

A bonus from the new guard

The Lost Symbols – "Anantram" (2022). Later part of the Jaipur band's album Farogh. Hindi rock with a folk pulse, and a sign that the Hindi rock band tradition of "Choo Lo" is still alive. The Lost Symbols.

How we chose

Every song here is released and streamable; we skipped anything announced but not yet out. We counted a song as Hindi indie if it is sung mainly in Hindi or Hindustani, is credited to an independent artist or band, and was not commissioned for a film. That rules out Mohit Chauhan's playback hits but keeps Silk Route. Release years come from Apple Music's India catalogue; where a song was first issued as a single and later collected on an album or EP, we give the earlier date.

We spread the list across three eras on purpose. Ranking only by streams would give you twenty bedroom-pop songs from the last five years and leave out the Indipop and rock records that made them possible.

Where to go next

If you want full records rather than songs, start with the best Indian indie albums of the 2010s and the best Indian indie albums of 2026 so far. For this year's singles, see best Indian indie songs of 2026; for last year's, best Indian indie songs of 2025. And for the songwriters behind many of these tracks, see Indian singer-songwriters.

Common questions

What is the most famous Hindi indie song? "O Sanam" by Lucky Ali and "Choo Lo" by The Local Train are the songs most people name first, from two different generations.

Is Hindi indie the same as Indipop? Indipop was the 1990s name for non-film Hindi pop on cassette and music television. Hindi indie is the broader, current term, and it covers rock, folk, electronic and bedroom pop as well.

Who are the best Hindi indie singers right now? Prateek Kuhad, Anuv Jain and Faheem Abdullah, plus bands such as The Local Train. For more, see our guide to Hindi indie bands.