A soulful collaboration between Last Minute India and Kuldeep Pattanaik, capturing the pain of unreciprocated love

Mumbai indie band Last Minute India. Photo: Courtesy of Last Minute India
Last Minute India isn’t just an indie band with a name that could give you the creative license to imagine all sorts of weird things, but they’re actually known for taking raw, universal feelings and transposing those into songs that linger long after the last note fades away.
Their new single, “Kaise,” featuring singer Kuldeep Pattanaik, is no exception: it’s a breakup anthem but one that resists the easier clichés and overplayed sentiments that come easily. Instead, “Kaise” appears to be a raw confession – a peek into the confusing emotional labyrinth of wanting to get over somebody whilst being bound to it at the same time.
Set to the signature blend of Hindi pop and alternative rock from the band, “Kaise” is an abridged story of a young man stuck in the aftermath of a breakup. He holds on to those unridden feelings, caught in that limbo that is so painfully clean – it’s gone for her; it can’t go for him. The song captures the struggle that many must go through post-breakup – where the heart still clings on to hope while reality often pushes you toward letting go.
Bassist and songwriter of Last Minute India, Subodh Gupta, gives some light into the inspiration behind that song. He says, “’Kaise’ is that moment where you’re just lost – you’re trying to move on, but everything feels like it’s pulling you back. It’s messy, it’s confusing, and we wanted to capture that feeling where the past isn’t done with you yet.”
The depth in the lyrics is given life by the emotive voice of Kuldeep Pattanaik, who can extract layers to the story of the song. Pattanaik brings both vulnerability and power equally in his voice. He says about the collaboration with Last Minute India “Working on ‘Kaise’ with Last Minute India was a journey. There’s something so real about that song — something about that emotion, unrequited love; you’re still waiting for answers that may never come. I think that’s something a lot of people will connect to.”
It is precisely this connection – the ability to make even the most private emotion universal — that has led Last Minute India to find its niche in the indie music circuit. They went from sitting at the benches as engineering students, bonding over their love for music, into becoming something bigger. They have established their status not only from the catchy melodies they compose but also from their ability to tell stories that resonate with anyone who has ever had to deal with life’s emotional curveballs.
“Kaise” is much more than a typical woeful song. It is a commentary on the messiness of heartbreak and the tortuous road back to recovery. Gupta adds, “We’ve always felt that music should be a story you feel. With ‘Kaise’ we wanted to explore how messy love and breakups can be – it’s never a clean break, and that’s what this song is about. It’s okay to get stuck in those feelings for a while.”
The music video for “Kaise” is out now, capturing the struggles of a man grappling with lingering emotions in the painful process of letting go after a breakup. The video exquisitely hones in on the depth of emotion in the song, while highlighting the heartache with a poignant layer.
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