The Alag Aasmaan of Indian Indie: Anuv Jain’s global flight

“Mere husn ke ilaawa kabhi dil bhi maang lo na” (Ask for my heart, not just my beauty) ,” That line lands like a bruise It is the reason thousands of people find themselves submerged in the world Anuv Jain has built. As an Indian singer-songwriter, he takes a plain and almost unremarkable sentence and turns it into a scar. He ignores the over-produced sludge on the radio. He skips the studio gimmicks and the desperate need to prove his range. Instead, he pulls you into a quiet, messy space where it is just a guitar and a truth that feels almost too intrusive.

Coming out of Ludhiana, he has effectively buried the old industry rules. You do not need a corporate machine or a massive label when the stories are this raw. He is a poet who realise that love in 2026 is unfinished, confusing, and mostly a wreck. While some might focus on his technicalities or his range, his fans are busy finding their own reflections in the honesty of his lyrics. There is no jury more important than the audience. If people see their own heartbreaks tucked into his verses, the opinions of experts carry no weight. He lets the fame sit in the background while the songs take the lead. In a world constantly shouting for a second of your time, Anuv Jain is the quiet voice that actually makes you stop.

There is no jury more important than the audience. If people see their own heartbreaks tucked into his verses, the opinions of experts carry no weight. He lets the fame sit in the background while the songs take the lead. In a world constantly shouting for a second of your time, Anuv is the quiet voice that actually makes you stop.

In a conversation with The Pioneer, he spoke about the tour, the weight of sudden fame, and why he still feels like that shy kid with a guitar

 

1. Anuv, the ‘Dastakhat’ tour is described as the final part of a trilogy (after Dastakein and Guldasta). Why ‘Dastakhat’ (Signature), and what story are you finally signing off on?

Anuv Jain: So Dastakath is the final part of a trilogy. Not that I'm gonna stop doing shows, but it just felt like this one chapter is just getting complete. So obviously the first one was Dastake and Gul Dasta and this one is Dastakath. So I'm sure that you can figure out that there is some thing with Dast happening, you know, in pretty much all of these. It's because these are all 10 city tours, like in India, especially, like they're all 10 city tours. But the one that we're doing now is a 10 country tour, which is crazy. So yeah, so that's where Dast comes from.

And there's another story. So basically Dastake is actually, if you translate to English, it's a knock. So that's an introduction, like when you knock on somebody's heart. And Gul Dasta is the gift that you present to them for the first time. And then Dastakath is that final signature that you do before leaving, which is so it completes the entire trilogy. So yeah, that's why it's a full complete circle.

2. You’re starting the world tour in Delhi at the JLN Stadium. This city has a reputation for being the loudest and most emotional crowd – does that make you more nervous or more excited?

Anuv Jain: The loudest and emotional crowd is exactly what I'm looking for. So I'm extremely excited. Yes, there are traces of nervousness because this is gonna be the first time I'm gonna be taking a band on road with me. And I hope that everything goes according to plan and people really enjoy the show. But it's mostly excitement, man. I love Delhi. It feels like home whenever I'm performing there. The people feel like family. And yeah, it's like that. The fact they are loudest and the most beautifully emotional, it's just a cherry on top of the cake.

3. ‘Husn’ became a massive anthem for 'situationships.' Did you expect a song about such a specific, modern kind of heartbreak to resonate so deeply?

Anuv Jain: You know, I would consider myself to be a realist and I try to keep my expectations not to a minimum but like at a balanced level. But when I was writing Husn and when I finally finished writing and when I was putting it out, I don't think I've ever been that confident ever in my life. Even before I started working on the song, I had got, I mean, before I started working on the song in the sense that when I had just written it and I hadn't really produced it, I literally went into my team meeting and I told each and every one of them that this song is gonna change our lives.

You know, the fact that it did what it did was something extreme. I obviously did not expect it to do this well, but I just knew it was gonna be the biggest song that I've ever written. And you know, you can't really plant these same things or you can't really expect things that oh that it's gonna resonate with so many people and like in this kind of a modern sort of a setting a song about relationships will be accepted and will be loved and all of those things.

But man, like I guess this is what's been going on and this is how love has been playing out for so many people. And I'm just so happy that so many people could relate to it and so many people could dedicate it to people and so many people could dedicate it to themselves and so many people could just like sing the song and find some sort of comfort in the song, and they still do. So it's something that I did not, I mean I hoped for. I thought that something will happen with the song. But what actually happened was just way beyond what any of us expected.

4. You're taking Indian Indie to London, Paris, and Australia. How does it feel to be one of the faces of the 'I-Pop' movement globally?

Anuv Jain: Man, it feels amazing. Just the fact that there are people out there who are willing to come for these shows and you know who are in these cities and in these countries that want to come for the show just makes me so happy. Because you know, I've been doing this for a while and I'm so happy that independent music is finally getting its due.

And it's just not just for me. There are so many more artists who are going out there and non-film artists who are performing in these stadiums and these venues and places and so many people are turning up for them. So it just makes me so happy that I get to be a part of this wave as well. And I'm so happy that I get to see all of this happening in India and there's a wave and this change coming in India first-hand.

5. You’ve mentioned being a shy, socially anxious kid. How do you flip the switch from being that person to a rockstar on stage?

Anuv Jain: I guess I just have one word, adrenaline. So, you know, like the thing is that yes, I am a shy person and I'm a socially awkward person and I've always felt that way. But it's always been with people that I do not know. But when it comes to my own audience, I think they all know me and I know them. I don't even call them my fans, man.

They're my family. I love each and every one of them. They've given me this life and they've given me this opportunity and I don't take this for granted at all. So yeah, man, like that's just how it is. I guess when I'm performing for them it just feels like home and it feels like my comfort place and I don't feel anxious or awkward.

6. Every artist eventually encounters differing opinions about their work, sometimes even from people they’ve long admired. When a collaboration sparks mixed reactions, how do you personally reflect on that feedback, and what do you take away from it as an artist moving forward?

Anuv Jain: See, the people who know me can 110% vouch for the fact that I am somebody who does everything with all his heart. If I have missteps that means that there is still some learning left to be done, but it doesn't mean that I did not put in my 100% into it. So when I see reactions and I see reviews about certain collaborations or certain things and I see comments that people are making, it obviously hurts.

Because I am somebody who has said this before as well, I would hope that these people in question would just personally text me and teach me. I am somebody who's still young. I have not been doing music professionally for a very long time. It's only been like five, five and a half years.

I would hope that people understand that and if there's anything they can always personally text me. Obviously there's no gun to anybody's head that they have to do that. But I would, you know, if you have to react maybe react positively and help somebody out. I'm always willing to learn. I'm completely okay with criticism and I just want to keep doing what I'm doing because I really care about this.

 

7. Listeners on social media often note the recognisable, intimate quality of your music slow, acoustic, and understated. When such observations come up repeatedly, do they ever make you reflect on your sound or feel an urge to experiment, or do you see consistency as part of your artistic identity?

Anuv Jain: See the thing with me is that yes as an artist you always want to experiment and push your boundaries. And I keep doing that, man. Like I did that with meri baat ho me do which was a pretty rock ballad which I hadn't done before. I did with antriksh which was pretty much me rapping.

I also worked with Coke Studio Bharat for Ariskiya hai and that was an incredible experience for me. That song has become one of their biggest songs that they've ever released and that makes me so happy. So as an artist, I've always tried to push my boundaries and keep doing things that are new and fresh and that people like. But yeah, you still have to maintain a balance.

8. With the rise of so many new artists every day, do you ever fear being overshadowed by the next viral sensation? How do you ensure Anuv Jain not just a 2020s ‘trend’?

Anuv Jain: That's actually a quite interesting question. But it's usually just the quality of the work. I usually revisit old songs and I feel that I could now do a better job with those. But it's never like they have run their course in terms of the emotions that I felt.

I think all of these songs are these memories that I keep going back to. It's not about resonating with them anymore. It's just the fact that they have been something that I've felt in my life. Whenever I listen to them, it just transports me back to that moment and that time when I was writing these songs. Yeah, that's just how it is.