In the early 1990s, when India was just getting used to cable TV, four irreverent musicians burst onto our screens hollering Top of The Rock, in, what was for its time, a seriously cool video. They quickly renamed themselves Indus Creed and created a stir, opening for Bon Jovi and for Guns N’ Roses’ Slash. However, predictably, very quickly Indus Creed faded. Benegal and fellow guitarist Jayesh Gandhi decided to move to New York to try and make it in the music scene there.

“We decided to move because there was no audience in India for the kind of music we wanted to make,” says Benegal, who formed Alms for Shanti with Gandhi in 2000. He is now back in Mumbai, alone, and is working on an indie film and two music projects.

The Alms for Shanti sound was distinctly Indian with strains of the tabla and the sitar merging with the electric guitar. They played gigs across the US and clearly the going wasn’t always good but then competing with the likes of the Black Eyed Peas and Counting Crows can’t be easy. “For a musician, there’s no place like New York City,” says Benegal. “They’re very experimental in the music scene and I don’t regret my decade there at all.”

Now, however, Benegal is finding his feet, once again, in Mumbai. “I’ve written a film script which some people are interested in producing,” he says. (His website hints at how much Benegal loathes Bollywood.) He’s quick to add, “I’m teaming up with a former Indus Creed member, Mahesh Tinaikar, for the music.”

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