Work Beyond the Stage

Founded with tabla player and scholar Dr. Aneesh Pradhan, Underscore Records was an artist-owned online distribution platform dedicated to Indian music in its many forms — Hindustani classical, light classical, devotional, folk, and contemporary work by Indian composers. Launched long before the streaming economy reached the subcontinent, Underscore was built on a simple premise: that musicians should retain control of their catalogues, and that audiences deserve access to Indian music beyond what the major labels were willing to release. Over the years it became a home for recordings that might otherwise have remained unheard — chamber pieces, archival material, first-time releases by young musicians, and collaborations across traditions. Underscore is no longer actively releasing new work, but its catalogue remains part of the larger story of Indian music's transition into the digital era.

Held annually in Pune, Baajaa Gaajaa was a festival of Indian music conceived as an antidote to the genre silos that often dominate Indian music programming. Classical, folk, devotional, and contemporary forms shared the same stages; established names performed alongside emerging artists; and the programming treated Indian music as a single, vast, internally diverse tradition rather than a collection of separate ones. The festival drew audiences from across the country and ran for several editions, leaving behind a template for how Indian music festivals could be curated with ambition and care.

Gift A Concert was founded on the idea that live Indian classical music should reach audiences who might never encounter it otherwise — students in small towns, community centres, schools without music programmes, institutions unable to afford the fees of touring artists. Donors could "gift" a concert to a chosen venue or community, underwriting the costs of bringing musicians to perform where they were most needed. The project brought together performers across genres and generations, and in doing so quietly expanded the reach of Indian classical music beyond its usual metropolitan circuits.