Coshish

Lore & Background

Coshish began in 2006 as a singer/songwriter duo of Mangesh Gandhi and Shrikant Sreenivasan. They expanded to a quartet and competed in college band competitions. After line-up changes, Hamza Kazi and Anish Nair joined in 2008, solidifying the progressive rock lineup. The band gained attention through HD live videos, leading to a deal with Universal Music India.

Their debut album Firdous was released on 2 September 2013 after four years of work. It was recorded, mixed, and produced by Zorran Mendonsa from New Zealand, mastered by Jens Bogren in Sweden, and featured international artwork collaborators. The album set a record for pre-orders on Flipkart and reached No. 8 on iTunes India and No. 28 on Nokia Music Store India.

Music videos for singles "Raastey" (2013), "Bhula Do Unhey" (2014), and "Hum Hai Yahin" (2014) were released. "Raastey" aired on MTV India and MTV Indies, and was named Song of the Day on MTV Indies. The band is currently working on a limited edition DVD box set and co-organized the Progworks festival in July 2015 with Rainburn.

Reader's Guide

Coshish represents a notable intersection of Indian language lyrics and progressive rock, a genre often dominated by English. Their debut album Firdous demonstrated that complex musical structures could coexist with mass appeal, as evidenced by its chart performance and record pre-orders. The band's use of Hindi for socially conscious themes helped broaden the reach of progressive rock in India. Their music videos, particularly the puzzle-like narrative across "Raastey" and "Bhula Do Unhey", engaged listeners beyond typical album consumption. The endorsement of major instrument brands (Mapex, Paiste, Blade, ESP, Laney) indicates professional recognition. Their co-curation of the Progworks festival in 2015 shows active involvement in building the progressive rock community in India. Though their output is limited to one album and three singles, Coshish's approach—melding technical skill with accessible lyrics—offers a model for non-English progressive rock acts. Their box set project suggests ongoing relevance in the Indian independent music scene.

Did You Know?

• Coshish's debut album Firdous set a record number of pre-orders on Flipkart, India's premiere E-tail website.
• The music video for 'Raastey' was the song of the day on MTV Indies on 1 April 2014.
• The band's third music video 'Hum Hai Yahin' was shot entirely on a Nokia Lumia 1520 and sponsored by Nokia India.
• Coshish co-organized and co-curated the progressive rock music festival Progworks in July 2015 with Rainburn.

Formation & Evolution

Coshish traces its roots to 2006 in Mumbai, where it began life as a singer-songwriter pairing of Mangesh Gandhi, handling guitars and lead vocals, and Shrikant Sreenivasan on guitar. The two quickly expanded beyond their duo format, bringing in a drummer and bassist drawn from Mumbai's local rock circuit to form an alternative rock quartet. Their early days were spent honing their craft on college stages, entering band competitions across the city's universities. The group's sound and identity continued to shift through a series of personnel changes, and by early 2008 the lineup had solidified around the addition of Hamza Kazi behind the kit and Anish Nair on bass. This final configuration marked a decisive turn toward progressive rock, a genre that would come to define the band's identity. The four members—Gandhi, Sreenivasan, Kazi, and Nair—have remained together ever since, giving Coshish a stable core through which they have pursued their vision of Hindi progressive rock with both technical ambition and broad accessibility.

Firdous: A Four-Year Labor of Love

The band's debut full-length, Firdous, arrived on 2 September 2013 after roughly four years of development, and its production was a genuinely international affair. Recording, mixing, and production were handled by Zorran Mendonsa in New Zealand, while mastering took place at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden under Jens Bogren. The visual identity of the record was equally transnational: artwork was a joint effort between Bernard Dumaine of France and Daeve Fellows of Canada, with additional packaging photography and graphic design contributed by Bharath Chandrasekhar and Imran Ladak in India. Released through Universal Music India, Firdous generated extraordinary buzz before its launch date, setting a record for pre-orders on Flipkart, India's leading e-commerce platform. Post-release, the album climbed to eighth place on iTunes India and twenty-eighth on the Nokia Music Store India, signaling that a Hindi progressive rock record could find a substantial commercial audience.

The Firdous Puzzle: Music Videos as Narrative

Coshish approached their music videos not as isolated clips but as chapters in a larger story. The first single, "Raastey," received its VEVO video on 25 October 2013, and its concept was explicitly designed as a continuation of the narrative embedded in the Firdous album and its physical packaging. Listeners were invited to decode the story by assembling scattered clues spread across the record. The video found regular rotation on MTV India and MTV Indies beginning in March 2014, earned a "song of the day" spot on MTV Indies on 1 April 2014, and was also recognized by 8 Octaves, an indie-music-focused website, on 6 October 2013. Rock Street Journal placed "Raastey" in its "Top 25 Tracks of 2013" list, while Soundtree Magazine included the video in its "9 Impressive Indie Music Videos." The narrative arc was completed on 19 March 2014 with the "Bhula Do Unhey" video, described as the final puzzle piece, released the same day as "Hum Hai Yahin," a Nokia India-sponsored clip shot entirely on a Nokia Lumia 1520.

Beyond the Studio: Live Shows, Festivals, and Gear

Before Firdous existed as a recording, Coshish built its reputation the old-fashioned way: playing clubs across Mumbai and posting high-definition live performance videos online. That consistent visibility on the circuit and in digital spaces is what ultimately caught the attention of Universal Music India and led to the band's album deal. The group's philosophy has always been that their music should carry mass appeal while still showcasing genuine musical dexterity, a balance they achieve through Hindi lyrics that deliver strong social messages wrapped in songs that feel simultaneously simple and complex. Their live and studio gear reflects a commitment to quality: the members endorse Mapex Drums, Paiste Cymbals, Blade Guitars, ESP Basses, and Laney Amplifiers. In July 2015, Coshish took a step beyond performing by co-organizing and co-curating the Progworks progressive rock music festival alongside the band Rainburn. Looking ahead, the group has been working on a limited-edition DVD box set, a project that will further document and celebrate their catalog.