Indian Psychedelic Rock Bands: 8 Acts From 1967 to Now

The story of Indian psychedelic rock bands starts in the late 1960s, in Bombay nightclubs, college towns and band contests run by a cigarette company, and it is still going in Delhi and Chennai today. This guide follows eight acts across that history. The early names include The Cavaliers, The Savages, Velvette Fogg, The X'Lents and Atomic Forest, whose Obsession '77 is often called India's only psychedelic rock album. Today the sound lives on in Peter Cat Recording Co., Lifafa and The F16s. It draws on NPR's 2011 dig into psychedelic India, The Quietus, Pitchfork, the Recording Academy, Esquire India and Wikipedia.

More facts

• Atomic Forest's Obsession '77 is described by The Quietus as "alleged to be the only album" of psychedelic rock recorded in India.
• Los Angeles label Now-Again Records reissued Obsession '77 in January 2011 (Wikipedia).
• NPR says the two Simla Beat albums were, for many Indian rock fans, "the equivalent of Sgt. Pepper's."
• The Cavaliers' 1967 hit Love Is A Mango used sitar with Beatlesque songwriting (Wikipedia).
• Peter Cat Recording Co. began a 77-date tour of the US, Europe and India in August 2024, including support slots for Khruangbin (Grammy.com).

How psychedelia reached India

NPR's 2011 feature Unearthing Five Lost Gems From Psychedelic India explains that rock bands appeared in Bombay and Calcutta in the late 1950s and early 1960s, inspired by Western pop on All India Radio. From the mid-1960s through 1970, a garage scene grew in cities and college towns such as Madras. The rock magazine Junior Statesman and the Simla cigarette company's Battles of the Bands at Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai helped it along. NPR calls this mostly underground scene "the first to spawn psychedelic music in India." It says the scene pushed film composers Kalyanji Anandji and R.D. Burman into psychedelia in the 1970s. Our Rock in India playlist traces where it went next.

The first wave

The Cavaliers

Wikipedia's history of rock in India names The Cavaliers' 1967 hit Love Is A Mango as an early example of Indian bands mixing rock with traditional Indian music. The song pairs sitar with Beatlesque songwriting. The same article says filmi songs often overshadowed the young rock scene.

The Savages

NPR reports that The Savages won two early Simla Beat contests with covers. Their album Black Scorpio came out in 1972. NPR places them in the 1960s garage scene rather than the 1970s psychedelic and hard-rock scene that followed.

Velvette Fogg

Nandu Bhende's Velvette Fogg won Simla Beat '71 with a cover of Cream's I'm So Glad, NPR says. Because Western records were scarce and often expensive, NPR writes, the two Simla Beat albums were for many young fans "the equivalent of Sgt. Pepper's: the entry point into the wonderful, weird world of Indian psychedelic rock." Wikipedia also lists Bhende as a later member of Atomic Forest.

The X'Lents

The X'Lents recorded the instrumental Psychedelia for Simla Beat 70. NPR calls it "the heaviest example of 'Raga Rock' you could ever hope to hear." It also says the band, in copying American surf and garage rock, "succeed where successive Western musicians, with their gurus and sitars and tablas, failed."

Atomic Forest and Obsession '77

Atomic Forest was a 1970s psychedelic and hard-rock band from Bombay. Wikipedia lists the original lineup as Neel Chattopadhyaya on guitar, Madhukar C. Dhas on vocals, Keith Kanga on bass and Valentine Lobo on drums. Dhas joined in 1971. The lineup changed several times, and Wikipedia says the band's only album was not released until 1981, after it had broken up. NPR adds that the album's personnel included no original members except Kanga. Obsession '77 is mostly disco covers plus two hard-rock interpretations. Its one original, the title track, is a reworking of Booker T. and the MGs' Melting Pot.

The Quietus wrote in 2012 that India produced thousands of Bollywood records in the late 1970s "but only one solitary psychedelic rock album." The magazine describes a "smoky, druggy, fuzz-laden sound" tied to Mumbai's Slip-Disc and Blow Up nightclubs. It says the band's gear included Marshall amps, copies of Rickenbacker guitars and even a theremin. It also reports that the band jammed with Led Zeppelin and played the Snehayatra Festival, nicknamed "The Indian Woodstock," at Malavli. Dhas, born in Madras in 1949, told the magazine the festival was "a pseudo-psychedelic scene." Now-Again Records reissued Obsession '77 in January 2011 and later released the anthology Obsession and a rediscovered first album, Disco Roar. For the more complex rock that came later, see our Indian progressive rock bands.

Bollywood's psychedelic turn

NPR credits R.D. Burman, an early Bollywood user of the Moog synthesizer and the wah-wah pedal, with bringing psychedelic touches to Dum Maro Dum and the score of Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971). Kalyanji Anandji's Dharmatma theme shows the same funk and psychedelic influence. These film scores are not band records, but they are where many listeners first heard Indian psychedelia.

The modern revival

Peter Cat Recording Co.

Peter Cat Recording Co. formed in Delhi in 2009. Wikipedia lists the members as Suryakant Sawhney, Karan Singh, Dhruv Bhola, Rohit Gupta and Kartik Sundareshan. Pitchfork's review of BETA (2024) says their catalogue includes "psychedelic slow waltzes." It describes the lead single People Never Change as moving through "funk, disco, bossa nova, and psychedelia," and the track Black and White as a "shoegaze freakout." The Recording Academy says BETA "melds guitar-driven rock with jazz, Indian pop, and psychedelia." The band supported it with a 77-date tour of the US, Europe and India from August 2024, including support slots for Khruangbin. The Delhi scene they came from is covered in our Delhi indie scene guide.

Lifafa

Lifafa is the solo project of Suryakant Sawhney, a founding member of Peter Cat Recording Co. Wikipedia says he came to prominence with Jaago (2019), whose title track became a popular protest anthem. His discography also includes SUPERPOWER2020 and Ghar: Sounds of Raw Mango (2020). His video Nikamma is one place to start.

The F16s

Esquire India called Chennai's The F16s "the darlings of India's indie rock scene" in 2025. It said their sound is growing into something "genre-fluid" that draws on "post-punk, psychedelia, and even Brazilian Tropicália." The new music builds on the satire of their 2021 EP Is It Time to Eat the Rich Yet?.

Where to start

Start with the reissued Obsession '77, then the Simla Beat tracks Psychedelia and The Mod Trade. After that, play Peter Cat Recording Co.'s BETA and The F16s' Mt. Whateverest.

FAQ

What is the only Indian psychedelic rock album?

Atomic Forest's Obsession '77, released in 1981 and reissued by Now-Again Records in 2011, is often described as the only psychedelic rock album recorded in India. The Quietus calls it alleged to be the only one.

Did Atomic Forest play with Led Zeppelin?

The Quietus and Wikipedia both report that Atomic Forest jammed or performed with Led Zeppelin in Mumbai.

What was Simla Beat?

A band contest run by the Simla cigarette company, which also released Simla Beat albums. NPR says those albums were many Indian fans' entry point into psychedelic rock.

Which modern Indian bands play psychedelic rock?

Peter Cat Recording Co. from Delhi, its frontman's solo project Lifafa, and Chennai's The F16s all draw on psychedelia, according to Pitchfork, the Recording Academy and Esquire India.

Sources

• NPR, "Unearthing Five Lost Gems From Psychedelic India"
• The Quietus, "Mumbai Nights: Atomic Forest Interviewed"
• Wikipedia, "Atomic Forest"
• Wikipedia, "Rock music in India"
• Pitchfork, "Peter Cat Recording Co.: BETA"
• Grammy.com, "Peter Cat Recording Co. In 'BETA' Mode"
• Wikipedia, "Peter Cat Recording Co."
• Wikipedia, "Lifafa"
• Esquire India, "Five indie artists shaping 2025"

Cover photo: Madhukar C. Dhas / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).