The best podcasts in India are messy, political, and impossible to ignore

Stories can take many forms. For decades,  cinema, music, books, and the arts have preserved history, tradition, and personal as well as public narratives. In 2025, it’s podcasts that are taking over. And the best podcasts in India are those moving beyond small talk, turning heartfelt interviews, cultural debates, and sharp on-ground reporting into narratives that reflect who we are. 

Why podcasts matter in 2025

Some of these must-listen Indian podcasts dissect pop culture and comedy. Others bring back stories from ignored towns and forgotten people. Together, they form an archive of what matters and what still needs our attention.

Podcasting’s rise is hardly niche anymore. A July 2025 study by the India Brand Equity Foundation noted that India had 105 million podcast listeners in 2024, a number projected to cross 200 million this year, making India the third-largest global podcast market after China and the United States of America. With over 750 million smartphone users, the best podcasts in India now reach listeners across urban, semi-urban, and rural areas with unfiltered, localised stories. “This convergence of heritage and innovation allows access to excellent quality information, empowering listeners with otherwise privately withheld insights gleaned from traditional broadcast media,” the report notes.

What began as audio-only storytelling is now a full-blown audio-visual format. Below, seven Indian podcast recommendations prove why this format is no longer just background noise. 

1. Moment of Silence (2024-)

Two girls on a couch, ranting about skinny culture, Hrithik Roshan’s fitness mantra, single-child syndrome, food trauma, ChatGPT, discussing the Botox-filler epidemic, Labubus, cooking fails, algorithms, situationships, cheating in relationships, and the truth about girl trips. Sakshi Shivdasani and Naina Bhan call their show “things women are told to shut up about”—and go on to deliver exactly that. 

Moment of Silence  flips trolling into content, has featured a gamut of celebrities from Mira Kapoor to Adam Mosseri, and makes ranting a feminist act. 

The hook: What makes this one of the top Indian podcasts 2025 is its willingness to platform unpopular opinions while voicing women’s experiences through relatable rants and sparking much-needed conversations about feminism in India.

Tune in on:Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also find it on YouTube under the name MoS-Pod, YouTube 

2. Indie music nostalgia with Maed in India (2015-)

Launched in 2015, by former radio jockey Mae Mariyam Thomas, Maed in India is still the country’s indie time capsule. Each episode offers interviews and exclusive acoustic sets from artists trying to survive without labels. From lost-and-found dream-pop duos to nostalgic throwbacks, it’s one of the top Indian podcasts in 2025 for music discovery.

It features independent artistes or bands as well as exclusive acoustic renditions of their original music. However, it goes beyond just interviews—it is almost an excavation, tracing why musicians chose this path, how they create, and what keeps them going. 

Thomas’ podcast runs themed series that capture the indie spirit. Lost & Found, for instance, featured the now-disbanded Kolkata-bred dream-pop duo Parekh & Singh. 

The hook: Each weekly episode doubles as music discovery and cultural archive—complette with nostalgic throwbacks and curated song lists—making it one of the best podcasts in India for tracking artists working outside the label system.  

Tune in on: Spotify, JioSaavn, Gaana, or Apple Podcasts, YouTube. 

3. The Desi Crime Podcast (2020-)

Hosted by Aryaan Misra and Aishwarya Singh, The Desi Crime Podcastis India’s answer to Serial—only darker and closer to home. Each weekly episode tackles real cases from India, Pakistan, and Nepal spanning murders, mysterious disappearances, family feuds, and corruption. They don’t leave out the gruesome details as they dive into the often complicated stories behind some famous cases as well as forgotten mysteries, such as IIM-grad Shanmugam Manjunath’s disappearance, reminding listeners that every crime is entrenched in a story of power, patriarchy, or corruption. 

The hook: What makes it one of the best podcasts in India is the way it centres the victim’s story: from the Uphaar fire tragedy, to Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch’s honour killing, and even the strange death of 90s Bollywood actor Divya Bharti. Sometimes, they turn to eerie, listener-submitted tales. Together, these stories reveal the crimes, and the fractures of power and politics that shape the subcontinent. One of the must-listen Indian podcasts for true-crime fans, it’s a rare show that entertains, unsettles, and compels society to confront its darkest truths.

Tune in on: Audible India, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music. 

4. Simple Ken (2020-)

What happens when a stand-up comedian drops the stage mic for a podcast? Kenny Sebastian brings his observational humour to this podcast, turning everyday scenarios into something worth laughing at—and thinking about. Launched in 2020, the hour-long episodes mix raw honesty with comedy, often tackling things Sebatian wishes more people spoke about openly . Audience questions add intimacy, while guests like Rohan Joshi, Kanan Gill, and Ankur Warikoo bring in conversations that range from childhood pop-culture obsessions to the struggles of India’s evolving stand-up scene.

The hook:The podcast proves that comedy can be both an escape and critique, addressing serious issues in the smartest way possible.

Tune in on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music. 

5. Has It Aged Well? (2022-2024)

Across approximately 107 hour-long episodes, Has it Aged Well?revisits Bollywood favourites from the ’90s, 2000s, and early 2010s. The films discussed on the podcast include those that millennials grew up with, boomers adored, and Gen Z discovered through memes. Hosted by Abbas Momin and Urjita Wani, the podcast and its guests dissect whether these movies still hold up l in terms of social context, plotlines, and character arcs.  

From Amitabh Bachchan's 'Angry Young Man' persona to Geet’s enduring impact in Jab We Met, the conversations reveal both Bollywood’s feminist breakthroughs and its dated tropes. 

The hook:One of the must-listen Indian podcasts for film buffs, it navigates nostalgia and cancel culture. It replays Bollywood history with a sharper lens—revealing what’s timeless and what no longer works.  

Tune in on: IVM Pop YouTube channel, Spotify, Apple podcast

6. Unfiltered by Samdish (2022-)

Launched in 2022 with politician Kanhaiya Kumar as his first guest, Samdish Bhatia’s Unfiltered has become one of the must-listen Indian podcasts for those who want real conversations about India today. From covering the wrestlers’ protest in 2023 to documenting the ethnic clashes  between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities in Manipur,  their on-ground episodes expose issues that mainstream often sidesteps, including one in Jammu & Kashmir's Budgam district which talked about the increased unemployment rate,  as well as the safety in the region and the struggles of its citizens. 

The guest list ranges from Rahul Gandhi and Vidya Balan to Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Anurag Kashyap, balancing satire with straight talk. Some episodes—like former cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father alleging he once planned to kill Kapil Dev—veer into controversy, while others, like the series on Umar Khalid, humanise political narratives too often reduced to soundbytes. It is one of the top Indian podcasts in 2025 if you want to understand the country beyond just headlines.

The hook:Raw, political and unafraid, this one of the best podcasts in India for staying connected to the issues that matter. 

Tune in on: YouTube 

7. Be a Man, Yaar!

Created by Nikhil Taneja, Be a Man, Yaar!is now two seasons deep and one of the must-listen Indian podcasts defining what masculinity means today. Through candid conversations, Taneja guides guests—ranging from  Vicky Kaushal, Naseeruddin Shah, Karan Johar, Mithila Palkar, Zakir Khan, Nakuul Mehta, Sushant Divgikar, Leeza Mangaldas, Srishti Garg, and Prateek Kuhad–back to their childhoods, their conditioning, and the stereotypes they’ve shed. Tears, laughter, and uncomfortable truths flow freely, making it clear how deeply patriarchy has shaped men’s lives as much as women’s. By centering vulnerability, the podcast creates space for cultural exchange that feels long overdue. 

The hook: Be a Man, Yaar! turns masculinity inside out, making the case that openness, not aggression, could redefine Indian masculinity 

Tune in on: YouTube, Yuvaa.com, Amazon, Spotify

In 2025, the best podcasts in India play out uncomfortable truths, nostalgic rewinds, feminist rants, and cultural reckonings in real time. Consider this your cheat sheet of Indian podcast recommendations that matter in understanding the country as it is.