An escape from reality

Music is known to help one escape from the reality one is in. As Plato once said, ‘Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.’ Two friends set out believing this and formed their own band in 2012 under the name of ‘Apostrophe ‘$’. Soon enough, the number of members grew to five and the name of the band too changed.

The band started off with Mannu Singh as the vocalist and rhythm guitarist and Vineeth on the keyboard. Later, Arjun Handa joined as the bassist, Raghu as the lead guitarist and Pruthvi as the drummer. Today, the five-member band is popularly known as ‘Kalpanik Theory’ and plays at various gigs in the City.

And why did they change the name? Mannu says, “We are an indie-fusion rock and alternative rock band who make music in a way that we are most comfortable in. We’d like to believe that we’re not bound by lyrics or music; we have our own way of arranging and presenting it. With our belief of freedom to think, we also changed our logo to represent a brian with wings. That’s why we changed the name to ‘Kalpanik Theory’”. 

But unlike other bands, they weren’t just a bunch of friends who decided to start a band. As they were software engineers and working on a hectic schedule, Mannu and Vineeth wanted to take a break. Music was their comfort.

They started to play at gigs after shift and found it chaotic to handle both. “It was initially very difficult for us to play our music the night before and get up the next day to come and work. But we realised that we didn’t want to stop what we’re doing just because we have another life to take care of, so we learned how to balance things. Now we are full-time professionals and do our show simultaneously,” they add.

The band is also working to bring out their album very soon. Talking about their original music, Mannu says, “Each one of us have our own sound and likings when it comes to the music. So we’ve worked together in such a way that we have a fusion of them in our songs and we’re thrilled to be able to bring them to people.”

One of their songs, ‘Yuhi Chala’, was composed by Arjun which talks about a person who is depressed but who makes an attempt to overcome that and move on. They have also composed songs such as ‘Kabho Ki Raastha’ and ‘Zindagi Na Jaane’ for the album. “All of our songs are relatable to the audience. It was everything — from recovering from a heartbreak to crying over hectic work in the IT field. We’re still working on the other songs which will be out soon.”

The members of ‘Kalpanik Theory’ recently performed at Phoenix MarketCity, which was a huge success. They say, “It’s absolutely great to be out on stage and perform for the audience. It’s a rush on its own. It helps us realise why we wanted to start this at all — to be relaxed and for our love for music.”