After Arijit, Pritam hints at taking a break from mainstream music: ‘Time to set off on new journeys’

4 min readNew DelhiJun 15, 2026 02:12 PM IST

Arijit Singh’s earlier announcement from playback singing in Indian commercial cinema had left the nation in shock. A few months after the revelation, music composer-singer Pritam has now hinted towards a similar update. In his latest social media post, he shared a deep, reflective note on his birthday. The composer mentioned that it was time to “set off on new journeys.”

Taking to his Instagram handle, Pritam posted a few black-and-white pictures of himself and wrote in the caption, “Thank you for all the wishes. Can’t answer everyone individually, but please accept my sincere gratitude. Today, I have decided to gift myself a few years to live life differently. To catch up on what I’ve missed.”

Indicating he wants to take a break from mainstream cinema, he continued, “Time to set off on new journeys, which have been kept on the back burner for long. Mainstream is a great ride. But I’ve always been more curious about the roads unexplored. Thank you for all the love & support. Always.”

ALSO READ | Pritam on 20 years of Gangster: ‘Still in disbelief that both KK and Zubeen Garg are gone’

Pritam’s birthday post instantly went viral and worried fans flooded social media, wondering if he was hinting at his retirement. “I think you are also taking break from music industry. I will miss new songs of Pritam, specially arijit+ Pritam combination,” a fan wrote. “Did Pritam announce his retirement from the mainstream Bollywood music?” another asked. “Pritam da is taking retirement,” a comment read.

Arijit Singh retirement announcement

This comes after composer-singer Arijit Singh announced his retirement from playback singing in January this year. “I want to thank you all for giving me so much love all these years as listeners. I am happy to announce that I am not gonna be taking any new assignments as a playback vocalist from now on. I am calling it off. It was a wonderful journey,” he wrote in his Instagram post.

‘Once you retire, I’ll retire too’

Pritam and Arijit Singh have delivered many successful collaborations in Bollywood together, including, What Jhumka?, Tere Hawaale, Kesariya, Janam Janam, Dilliwaali Girlfriend, and many others. Earlier, while talking to SCREEN in an interview, Pritam had opened up about his desire to go the Arijit Singh way now. “No artist retires. I think you should treat it as just a break rather than retirement. Actually, I’ve been talking about my retirement for eight months. I’ve been wanting to retire ever since then. I’ve told everyone, but they just laugh at me. Ultimately, it’s not retirement, but just a break,” he said.

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He further added, “I’ve told Arijit a few times about retirement. Everyone has been to his hometown, Jiaganj, except me. He’d laugh and tell me, “You wouldn’t come.” I told him, “No, I’m retiring. Once I make the announcement, I’d come to you and we’d go to Tarapith together.” He was hearing this from me for the past one year. One night, he told me, “The day you retire, I’ll also retire.” The next day, he announced his retirement from playback singing. After doing that, he called me and said, ‘Aapse nahi hoga’.”