For Ayaan Agnihotri, the journey into Bollywood wasn’t part of a carefully charted plan. Long before his voice found its way into Bandar, musician Ayaan Agnihotri aka Agni, was focused on building an identity through independent music. With tracks such as You Are Mine and Universal Laws, he steadily built a sound rooted in contemporary influences, focusing on creating music that reflected his personal artistic vision rather than chasing industry expectations. “My journey started through independent music in collaborations with composers like Payal Dev in Party Fever and my upcoming EP which includes stories about a storyteller. That whole process made me more open to exploring Hindi music and crossing over,” Agni begins. This foundation eventually led him to C’mon Baby, his first Bollywood playback song from Anurag Kashyap’s Bandar, which released on June 5.
The crossover represented a significant shift for an artiste whose music had largely gravitated towards English. While he had begun experimenting with Hindi, taking on a full-fledged film song felt like unfamiliar territory. “Before C’mon Baby, I had started dabbling in Hindi but I was not getting anything as serious as a film song, which is why I was hesitant. I decided to give it a go anyways as I believed that even if I don’t succeed, it’s an opportunity not worth missing,” he says. Part of his excitement stemmed from the uncertainty surrounding the project itself. Unlike many playback singers who work closely with filmmakers throughout the process, Agni recorded the song with limited information about how it would ultimately fit into the film. “I was only given the synopsis along with the cast and crew details,” he recalls. “I dubbed the song with no further context. A week after Universal Music India approved the song is when I saw the first cut of the trailer — that was the first time I heard it in the film and man was I excited, I got goosebumps,” exclaims Agni.
For Agni, Bandar underscored the difference between independent music and playback singing. While his own songs stem from personal ideas, film music is about serving a larger story. Still, the experience felt natural. “Every song has a feel it’s looking for. With this one, the brief was simple — make it fun and just go for it,” he tells us. He sees the growing crossover between indie artistes and Bollywood as a reflection of a changing industry. “Independent music created its own wave, bringing in fresh voices and new ideas. That naturally opened doors for those voices to cross over into films,” avers the artiste.
Despite his growth, Agni remains conscious of the conversations that often surround independent artistes from film families. Rather than resisting them directly, he has focused on ensuring that his work remains at the centre of the discussion. “The name Agni actually came from that — short for Agnihotri and fitting for an Indian artiste who’s ready to make some fire,” he reveals. At the heart of everything, however, remains the creative process itself. When inspiration strikes, Agni says it almost always begins in the same place. “Always a beat. That’s where I find my inspiration. Always has,” he avers. As for what comes next, he is not interested in drawing rigid boundaries between independent music and playback singing. With an EP on the horizon and a Bollywood debut now behind him, he appears content allowing both worlds to coexist. “I’m going to take it as it comes and let life decide,” he says. For now, Bandar marks an important milestone rather than a definitive turning point. It introduces Agni to a wider audience, but it also highlights something he has been building long before Bollywood entered the picture: a musical identity that he hopes will be defined by the songs themselves.
C’mon Baby is streaming on all audio platforms.