Mitraz, the pop and R&B project that Anmol Aashish and Pratik Singh started as a duo, has four songs on Spotify's Indie India playlist right now, and only Anuv Jain and Aditya Rikhari have more. At our snapshot at 10:29 PM IST on 21 October 2026, Alfaazo was at No. 47, Akhiyaan at No. 48, Junoon at No. 63 and Muskurahat at No. 69. All four came out in 2022. None of them is new, and that is exactly what makes them interesting.

Most indie songs live on an editorial playlist for a season and then slide off. These four have stayed in the conversation for close to four years, through a Bollywood remake, a Spotify Wrapped top five and the departure of half the duo. I wanted to find out how a project with a quiet public profile ended up with that kind of staying power, and what Mitraz is now that it is, in practice, one person.

Mitraz at a glance

  • Members: Anmol Aashish and Pratik Singh, who met at school, according to a 2024 cover interview in The Outsiders
  • Current line-up: Anmol Aashish, after Pratik Singh announced his exit in September 2024
  • Roles, per The Outsiders: Pratik mainly wrote lyrics and composed, Anmol mainly produced, with exceptions
  • Breakthrough: Junoon (January 2022, ℗ Loop Beats Records) and Akhiyaan (February 2022, ℗ Mitraz Records)
  • Albums: Zehen (November 2022) and Neendein (April 2024), both ℗ Mitraz Records on Apple Music
  • Film song: Akhiyaan Gulaab for Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024), ℗ Super Cassettes Industries (T-Series)
  • On Spotify: about 4 million monthly listeners on the Mitraz artist page when we checked on 21 October 2026

Friends first, then a name

The Outsiders, a music magazine that made Mitraz its March 2024 cover story, gives the clearest account of how the project began. Its writer, Spandan Fulkar, reports that Pratik and Anmol became friends at school and that, before Mitraz existed, they ghost-produced tracks for other people. That work, the article says, paid well enough to give them some stability, and Mitraz only came into being once they felt they had enough income to sustain it.

The name is as plain as it sounds. "Mitraz translates to 'Friends,' symbolizing the pure bond and friendship that underpins our musical collaboration," the duo told The Outsiders. In the same interview they said they had no single musical hero: "We don't have a specific artist who inspired us because we were inspired by a lot of artists from all genres. We were most comfortable with producing chill songs so we chose this genre."

I find that second quote more revealing than it first looks. Comfortable is the right word for this music. It does not try to impress you. It sits at a conversational volume, the hooks arrive without any build-up, and the vocals sound like someone singing to a person in the same room.

The Wikipedia entry for Mitraz places the duo in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. We could not find that stated in the independent interviews we read, so treat it as the commonly given hometown rather than something we have confirmed.

Junoon, Akhiyaan and a self-owned catalogue

Junoon is the song that first pushed Mitraz beyond a small audience. On Apple Music its ℗ line reads Loop Beats Records Pvt. Ltd., with a release date of 30 January 2022. Akhiyaan followed within a month, released on 24 February 2022 according to Apple Music, and its ℗ line is different: ℗ 2022 Mitraz Records. The duo told The Outsiders that it was Akhiyaan, more than anything before it, that made them feel their sound had caught on.

Hearing Junoon and Akhiyaan side by side, the family resemblance is obvious, but Akhiyaan is the one I go back to. It is a love song built on a small, repeating melodic idea, and the arrangement leaves plenty of air around the voice. It is a little over three minutes long, and it never feels as though it is reaching for a big moment. That restraint is probably why it works as well on a late-night commute as it does under a phone video.

The catalogue that followed is mostly on Mitraz's own imprint. Muskurahat (June 2022), the seven-track album Zehen (November 2022) and the nine-track Neendein (April 2024) all carry a Mitraz Records ℗ line on Apple Music. Alfaazo is the exception among the four songs on Indie India: its Apple Music ℗ line reads Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. under exclusive licence from Big Bang Records Pvt. Ltd.

From Gulaab to Akhiyaan Gulaab

In January 2024, Mitraz crossed into Hindi film. Akhiyaan Gulaab appeared in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, the Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon romantic comedy produced by Maddock Films. Mirchi reported on 19 January 2024 that Mitraz wrote, composed and sang it. Hindustan Times described it as "more groovy with Western beats" than the film's first song, and pointed out that Mitraz had a 2022 track called Gulaab as well as the 2022 hit Akhiyaan. Gulaab is on Zehen, and The Outsiders reports that Anmol led its production.

So the film version grew out of songs that already existed in Mitraz's own catalogue. In a statement quoted by OTTplay, Mitraz called it a process of "reimagining and crafting this love melody". This time, though, the master belongs to T-Series: the Akhiyaan Gulaab single carries ℗ 2024 Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited on Apple Music. The official video, with choreography by Vijay Ganguly according to Hindustan Times, is on the T-Series YouTube channel.

It went a long way. Rolling Stone India's report on Spotify Wrapped 2024 listed Akhiyaan Gulaab at No. 5 among the most-streamed songs in India that year, and called Mitraz an "erstwhile duo" in the same breath. Wikipedia's entry, citing Rolling Stone India, notes that the song entered the Billboard charts in March 2024.

There is a lesson about ownership hiding in here, and we have written about it before in our piece on who owns Indian indie music masters. The original Akhiyaan stays with Mitraz Records. The version that reached a far bigger audience, at least for a while, does not.

One half leaves

In September 2024, Mitraz posted a short statement on Instagram announcing that Pratik Singh was leaving. The music site GIGX reported both members' messages. Pratik wrote: "I will be leaving Mitraz to pursue another career. I know this might be heartbreaking for some of you but I have thought a lot about it." Anmol wrote that "Pratik is no longer a part of MITRAZ," that the change was tough, and that he would be "continuing this journey" with a solo project of his own. Wikipedia dates Pratik's announcement to 4 September 2024, while GIGX gives 7 September; we have not been able to settle which is right.

The split is awkward to read against the Outsiders interview from six months earlier, in which the duo said they had never had any significant creative differences. Neither member has said publicly, in anything we could find, why Pratik left beyond his own words about another career, and we are not going to guess.

What happened next is a matter of record. From late September 2024, new singles began appearing under the credit Anmol A & Mitraz, or the other way round: Tera Naam in September, Megha Re in November, Pia in December, then Farmaish, Manjha, Zulf and Ambara in the first half of 2025. Apple Music lists the ℗ for Tera Naam and Ambara as Anmol A & Mitraz, and for Zulf as Mitraz Records. Billing himself twice, once as a person and once as the project, looks to us like a sensible way to carry a well-known name forward without pretending nothing changed. It also mirrors a wider shift in how Indian indie credits are written, which we looked at in Indian indie collabs.

Why the old songs keep coming back

Here is our reading, and it is an opinion. The Indie India placements are for the 2022 songs, not the newer Anmol A singles, and I think that tells you how people actually listen. Akhiyaan and Muskurahat have become comfort records, the kind you put on without deciding to, and an editorial playlist that wants to hold listeners has every reason to keep them close. The same thing has happened with Anuv Jain, whose older songs sat near Mitraz on the same playlist at our snapshot.

For an artist, that has a practical upside when the masters are your own. On Akhiyaan, the label's share of every stream goes to Mitraz Records, which is the scenario our guide on Indian indie streaming income argues is worth protecting.

Whether Anmol's new material can earn the same place is the open question. On the evidence of the playlists alone, it has not yet, and it is fair to wait and see.

FAQ

Who is in Mitraz?

Mitraz began as a duo of Anmol Aashish and Pratik Singh, who met at school according to The Outsiders. Pratik announced in September 2024 that he was leaving to pursue another career, and Anmol has continued the project, releasing singles as Anmol A and Mitraz.

Is Akhiyaan Gulaab the same song as Akhiyaan?

Not exactly. Akhiyaan is a 2022 Mitraz single. Akhiyaan Gulaab is a 2024 song for the film Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, which Hindustan Times linked to Mitraz's 2022 songs Akhiyaan and Gulaab. Mirchi reported that Mitraz wrote, composed and sang it.

Who owns Mitraz's songs?

Apple Music lists ℗ Mitraz Records on Akhiyaan, Muskurahat, Zehen and Neendein. Junoon is ℗ Loop Beats Records, Alfaazo is ℗ Sony Music Entertainment India under licence from Big Bang Records, and Akhiyaan Gulaab is ℗ Super Cassettes Industries (T-Series).

Why did Pratik leave Mitraz?

In his own announcement, reported by GIGX in September 2024, Pratik said he was leaving to pursue another career. Neither member has given a fuller public explanation that we could find.

Which Mitraz songs are on Indie India?

At our snapshot at 10:29 PM IST on 21 October 2026, Alfaazo (No. 47), Akhiyaan (No. 48), Junoon (No. 63) and Muskurahat (No. 69) were on Spotify's Indie India playlist.

Sources

Cover: Mitraz, from the official artist photo on the Mitraz Spotify artist page (photographer not credited); centred on a blurred, darkened extension of the same photo at 1200x630 by discography.in. Source: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3iGhlvzpXc0UHBQ7klAItX.

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