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Yeh Hai Metal: India’s First Indie Metal Documentary Released Online

Mehr Singh’s Yeh Hai Metal, released earlier this year can be considered India’s first proper indie metal documentary. The film takes a trip through the history of Indian metal in a simple yet informative way in a play time of just under thirty-five minutes.

The metal scene in India might not be the most populous one, considering that masses are still more inclined towards the commercial sounds of dance music and Bollywood, but there is no contesting the fact that it is one of the most developed genres of the Indie music scene. Yeh Hai Metal attempts to retrace the development of the Indian metal scene from a nascent stage to becoming the dominant Indie giant it is now. Talking to landmark bands like Demonic Resurrection and Bhayank Maut, to the present scene stealers like Scribe and Skyharbor, Singh shot the film between February and March 2012. Shot primarily in Pune and Mumbai, the documentary does a wonderful job at making metal acceptable if not likeable to the listeners who miss the point of the genre. Starting from simple questions like “What is Metal?” and “Why do you choose to play metal?”, the documentary seamlessly approaches deeper topics like the economics of the genre and the social implications and stereotypes associated with the genre while doing a brilliant job at debunking them through interviews and carefully selected quotes.

It will take a while for Indie music to become popular in India to a point where it is financially viable for musicians, but attempts like Yeh Hai Metal are certainly going to give the much-required push in terms of acceptability. The documentary is a fun account of Indian metal and is worth a watch even if you are not a metal head just to encourage such attempts and develop the Indie culture, not only in music but also other art forms.

The documentary that released on the 31st of July is readily available online for viewing.

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