‘No showmanship, every note he played pierced your heart’: Musicians remember Mahesh Tinaikar, Indus Creed’s quiet guitarist

Guitarist Mahesh Tinaikar was known for his distinctive playing and quiet stage presence, he helped shape the band’s sound and inspire generations of musicians.

Mahesh Tinaikar, co-founder of the homegrown rock-n-roll band Indus Creed, died aged 62 on Wednesday. Tinaikar was the guitarist of the band that gained a cult following in the 1980s and 1990s with their brand of original melodic pop rock ensconced in heavy bass and drums.

Uday Benegal, Mahesh Tinaikar and Zubin Balaporia's Indus Creed was started in 1984. Photo: Zubin Balaporia

Tinaikar is survived by three brothers and a partner. He was cremated in Mumbai on Thursday at 10 am.

Indus Creed, first called Rock Machine when Tinaikar co-founded it with bassist Mark Selwyn in 1984, was one of few India-based rock bands that first rode the wave of satellite or cable television, as music channels broadcast Western pop and rock music in India. The band cut albums with record labels, made music videos — Pretty Child, a song in their second album, Second Coming, was voted as the ninth best video of 1993 by MTV —and even toured internationally in several West Asian countries, Los Angeles in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.

As Rock Machine, the band would play covers of popular rock songs, slipping an original track into their lineup ever so often. The first lineup included rhythm guitarist Aftab Currim, vocalist Ian Santamaria and drummer Suresh Bhadricha. However, within a few years, the lineup changed and Zubin Balaporia, Uday Benegal, Jayesh Gandhi and Mark Menezes joined the band. The band released its first album, Rock n Roll Renegade, in 1988. That same year, it went on a six-city tour in what was then Soviet Russia. In 1994, the band changed its name to Indus Creed on the advice of Russel Mason, who managed the band’s visit to Los Angeles to cut their third album (the self-titled Indus Creed), and their subsequent performances during a three-month stay.

“I remember, when my wife first told me that she was pregnant, I called up Mahesh before I even spoke to my parents,” said Balaporia. “We had an immediate band meeting because we were supposed to leave for LA, and everyone was concerned whether I’d be able to go. My bandmates were the first to be told about the baby. We were very close and like a family to each other,” he said.

“Someone once told me that it’s nothing short of a miracle that the six of us found each other in this large country and stayed together for 17 years,” Balaporia added.

Indus Creed’s frontman Uday Benegal said he was in shock over Tinaikar’s passing.

The guitarist was a man of few words, said Pentagram lead guitarist and one-half of musical duo Shair n Funk, Randolph Correia.

“Whenever we would meet, we would geek out and talk about guitars and equipment. And he was always very kind and encouraging,” Correia said.

He remembers visiting Rang Bhavan, the iconic Mumbai venue of the rock festival, IROCK, while a student at the JJ School of Art and Architecture in the early 1990s, and watching Tinaikar play. “They were a bunch of guys who had a drive and a passion. And they were pioneering — they had their own sound. They were great performers who were unapologetic about their style. Seeing them, it was easy to think that if they can do it, then we can too. They set the standard for us, and they were just really cool.”

“Mahesh’s persona on stage was absolutely still. He had no facial expressions, or showmanship, but every note that he played pierced your heart. That’s what made him stand out,” said musician Ravi Iyer, who formed a rock band in the late 1980s, Witch Hammer.

Balaporia said that this was Tinaikar’s personality from his young days, when the band members would rehearse in Tinaikar’s South Mumbai home; Tinaikar’s father, Sadashiv Tinaikar, was the city’s Municipal Commissioner in the late 1980s. “He would pop by to see us play and he was always encouraging,” Balaporia recalled.

Indus Creed disbanded in 1997, and came back together in 2010 albeit with two new members. They produced a new album, Evolve, in 2012 with a more progressive rock sound. They continued to perform across the country, including most recently opening for British rock legends Def Leppard in Mumbai in March.

Tributes for Tinaikar came pouring in from the music industry. Singer-composer and Pentagram frontman Vishal Dadlani wrote on Instagram: “India lost a true LEGEND today. Every single rockandroller since #RockMachine owes Mahesh Tinaikar a debt of gratitude for lighting up the way that we couldn’t even imagine until they walked it! An inspiring and pioneering musician, and a guy who always stood on the right side of things. Grateful I got to be on stage with @induscreednow and say thanks to all of them in public.”