5 bands and artists to discover the Tamil Indie scene

Having grown up in a musical environment – he’s the son of two highly regarded playback singers – it's hardly surprising that Sai Abhyankkar is a gifted multi-instrumentalist as well as an excellent singer.

Its with his debut track “Katchi Sera”, released in January 2024 through Think Indie, that his popularity exploded. The video racked up millions of views, a feat he repeated with his 2nd single “Aasa Kodaa” in June 2024. To date, the track has racked up almost 300 million views on YouTube.

This success opened him the doors of the film industry, as he has been commissioned to write the score for several upcoming films, including Balti, Karrupu and the eagerly-awaited Benz.He hasn't stopped pursuing his career as an independent artist though, having released the singles “Sithira Puthiri” in January and “Vizhi Veekura” in July.

Since the release of his first single “Asal Mob” with renowned producer ofRO in 2020, Asal Kolaar's popularity has continued to grow, as has his fan base. And perhaps his contributions as singer or lyricist to many Kollywood and Tollywood movie soundtracks have something to do with it.

It was also in 2020 that the young artist recorded his first song for a film, and he has appeared on more than a dozen soundtracks since then. Some, such as “Naa Ready” and “Mustaache Vestaache” from Paaris Jerayaj, have amassed tens of millions of streams and views.

This does not mean, however, that he has stopped performing as an independent artist. Asal Kolaar has been consistently releasing hip-hop tracks aside his film music career, and he has been quite active in the past few months with the successful singles “Paiya Dei”, “Champagini” and “Sigma Paiyan”, released late July.

Although Paal Dabba has been known as a hip-hop artist for some years, he first entered the music world as a dancer and choreographer. His background explains both his finely-crafted music videos and his wide-ranging musical influences.

He was still a member of a dance crew B-FAB when he released “Ai Ai Ai” in 2023, a 1st  single that generated much buzz. In 2023, “170CM” - an absolute banger, praised for its Afrobeats influences and its supercharged video - established him as a leading artist. A status he confirmed in 2024 with tracks like “Galatta” (from the film “Aavesham”) and “Kaathu Mela”. His inclusion in Rolling Stones India’s “Future of Music 2024” was a given.

Although a little less active in the first half of 2025, Paal Daaba wrote the track “Idi Mazhai” for the movie 3BHK released last June. And mid-August, he surprised his large fanbase with the very pop-oriented song “En Seethai”, whose music video passed the million-view mark in less than 5 days.

Before slipping on their monkey masks to remain anonymous, the members of Malayali Monkeys had already released dozens of songs and worked as music directors for several films. In 2022, the trio was born out of their desire to work together to create something new.

Upon its release in September 2023, their 1st single “Oombalum Kanjiyum” went viral, reaching 2nd place on Spotify’s “Viral India” playlist. While the music is very much in line with the musical tradition of the Kerala region, it is their catchy, funny, and provocative lyrics, as well as their innovative music videos, that earn them the favor of the public. This public also brought their second single, “Ooku,” to great acclaim.

Earlier in 2025, Malayali Monkeys made a notable appearance alongside rapper Dacalty on the insane song “Endhada Chetta”  and they also appeared on the track “Massmarikam” from the soundtrack of the film Maranamass.

With only very few official songs released, one might think that the Mumbai-born but Chennai-based rapper Vengayo is a newcomer to the Tamil Indie scene. And nothing could be further from the truth!

If we say he started in a hip-hop dancing crew, it should remind you of another artist mentioned above. Yep, Vengayo is a long-time friend of Paal Dabba. Vengayo actually made his rapping debut on Paal Daaba’s 2022 song “Ai ai ai”, under another moniker, and he was the choreographer for several Paal Dabba’s video.

After releasing “Kilo 54” at the end of 2023, Vengayo made a strong comeback in may 2025 with “Chikkama”, a raw and edgy hip-hop track rooted in the Tamil musical traditions of Kuthu beats and Gaana music. The music video - directed by Paal Daaba, of course - had a huge impact thanks to its gory and fun visuals and has already passed the 2 million views mark.