Jai –what? Shut up! If you think Indian music begins with “Bolly” and ends with “wood,” prepare to have your mind blown. Ever since the Beatles went to India, rockers the world over looked to India for inspiration or a little exotic something to spice up tired tracks. But kids in India have been rocking out for decades too, putting down sitars and picking up guitars to wail along to their favorite Western tunes.  Where formerly, original musicians would have gotten booted off the stage for not playing a three-hour set of Nirvana covers, now they are absolutely flourishing.

So in our latest MTV Iggy Special Feature, we partied through India with some of the scene’s brightest stars and shot tons of video of original bands doing their thing. Showing us around was India’s premier independent rock journalist, Arjun S. Ravi. In “Ready or Not, Here We Come: Indian Rock Music’s Long Hard Fight to the Light,” Arjun explains everything from the best way to sneak Kingfisher into the venue Rang Bhavan to how superstar bands like The Ragu Dixhit Project grew from a MySpace page to a band that tours the world. And wow, our special feature wouldn’t have been the same without him. So definitely check it out for your primer to all things Indian rock.

Meanwhile, our cameramen caught the bands in action. “Just imagine Incubus and Poison, the two of them got together and started drinking,” said the lead of the band Junkyard Groove, when we ask him to describe his band. Rock on. For a solid intro to the scene, check out this video:

We caught up with the bands Half Step Down, Junkyard Groove, Tough on Tobacco and Jalebee Cartel to ask them to explain their sounds, how to get to their music (“Download it, Steal it,” says Half Step Down), and where they practice (Tough on Tobacco practices in a dad’s office after hours). Jalebee Cartel, the only band that’s not strictly rock (they’ve got electronica on their side) was particularly illuminating, even though they never really wanted us to interview them: “When something becomes popular,” they explain, “It just kills the complete scene.”

Check out the video:

Meanwhile, we shot exclusive performances with each band. Half Step Down play their grunge-rock hit “Knocking”, Jalebee Cartel play the dance-y “The Mirror,” Tough on Tobacco play “Some Other Way” from their small office practice room, and Rainbow Bridge rock out to “Indian Jadoo.” But my favorite is the only video shot outside a studio or club. On a pile of bricks on the street outside the band’s Chennai studio, Junkyard Groove play their anthem “Twinkle,” totally unflustered by that fleet of local cops riding by:

On his own insider-y site, Indiecision, Arjun recently posted his count-down of the decade’s  best singles in Indian rock, and since so many are mentioned in his article, we thought we’d link you to his top 25 countdown, at least 15 bands within which you’ll also find stories of in his article. If you’re just curious about the sound coming out of India or, if you’re a know-it-all already, it’s a great list to argue with.

His top five — and a great first five tracks to start with — are Indian Ocean’s “Kandisa” (5), Pentagram’s “Drive” (4), Rabbi Shergill’s “Bulla Ki Jaana” (3), Thermal & A Quarter’s “Jupiter Cafe” (2), and, at number one, Zero’s “PSP 12.” Here’s the video for that winning song, and check out the rest on Indiecision!