“Mainstream is a great ride. But I’ve always been more curious about the roads unexplored.”
That line, from a note Pritam Chakraborty put on Instagram around his birthday on June 14, 2026, was enough to set Bollywood talking. The composer was turning 55. The note, which came with a set of monochrome photographs, thanked well-wishers and then turned somewhere nobody expected.
What he wrote
He said he could not answer everyone one by one, but wanted to offer his sincere gratitude. Then: “Today, I have decided to gift myself a few years to live life differently. To catch up on what I’ve missed.” He spoke of new journeys “kept on the back burner for long” and signed off thanking people for their love and support.
Look at what is missing. There is no mention of retirement, and no goodbye to music. Hindustan Times described the post as cryptic, and that is fair.
Fans fill the silence
The comments arrived fast, and many read it as a farewell. One fan wrote that first Arijit and then Pritam had both retired from the mainstream. Another asked, half in Hindi, whether he was taking retirement, and begged him not to. A third admitted a moment of fear that he was saying goodbye to music altogether. Some saw opportunity: “Now dada coming in indie scene.”
The Arijit comparison was unavoidable. Earlier in 2026 Arijit Singh announced he would take no new assignments as a playback vocalist. He then made clear he was not giving up music: “Just to be clear that I won’t stop making music.”
A career that rarely paused
Pritam made his solo debut with Stumped in 2003 and broke through the following year with the soundtrack for Dhoom. ETV Bharat counts more than 125 films since. Hindustan Times lists Jab We Met, Barfi!, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Dangal among his best-known scores, and notes his first National Film Award for music direction came for Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva. From 2021 to 2024 he held second place among Indian artists in Spotify Wrapped, behind only Arijit Singh.
The timing added to the intrigue. His latest work, the soundtrack for Cocktail 2, was due in cinemas worldwide on June 19, only days after the post. The film is directed by Homi Adajania and stars Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon and Rashmika Mandanna, and its songs include Tujhko, Mashooqa and Jab Talak.
Neither report carried any comment from Pritam beyond the post itself.
Sources
- After Arijit Singh, did Pritam hint at retirement from Bollywood music? Shocked fans react (Hindustan Times)
- 'Mainstream Is a Great Ride, But…': Pritam's Cryptic Birthday Post Ahead Of Cocktail 2 Sparks Buzz (ETV Bharat)
