Sunil Koshy inspires Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad students to rediscover joy through music in Bengaluru

Time of India

25-05-2025

Bengaluru: On a drizzly Sunday evening in the city, visiting students from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) got a lesson they never saw coming: The session was not about balance sheets and corporate strategies but all about hitting the high notes! They were treated to a real-life example of 'following your passion' from an unlikely mentor: Sunil Koshy, the man who turns bathroom singers into budding performers.
Yes, you read that right. Koshy is not the typical corporate honcho. But his entrepreneurial journey, from being a techie in an MNC to becoming a musician-cum-vocal coach, left the BPGP (Blended Post Graduate Programme) students spellbound. Apart from interacting with the students, Koshy encouraged them to sing, and to their own surprise, many joined in a spontaneous chorus with him.
In fact, Koshy, after learning music, launched 'Mug to Mike' in 2013 along with his wife Archana Hallikeri—a platform for bathroom and amateur singers that has now trained over 15,000 people across India and the UAE.
The idea was simple yet powerful: help people rediscover joy through music, even if they'd never sung outside their bathrooms. This unique journey is now the subject of a Harvard Business Publishing case study, taught at institutions like MDI Gurgaon and discussed globally.
Koshy's story found special resonance with IIMA students when he was invited to perform as part of a classroom engagement, blurring the lines between lecture and life lesson.
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"We're learning about ecosystems in strategic management," said Angadpreet Singh, a PGP student. "This felt like a real-life example—how you build a community, evolve with technology, and create engagement around a shared passion."
It isn't just students who took notes. IIMA professor Joshy Jacob described how Koshy's art can help towards emotional well-being in a stressful fast-paced world. But among management professionals, this form, with a global audience, is also an industry to be studied in depth.
"We have a bouquet of specialised courses. For example, one of our alumni pursues a course on the film industry. We want to really cover different industries and music is one," Joshy noted, reinforcing that Koshy's journey is not just melodic but methodical and worthy of academic inquiry.
What sets From Mug to Mike apart is how it offers musical experiences to people with no professional ambitions—engineers, homemakers, and even retirees.
Participants went on to record in studios associated with legends like Hariharan and KS Chithra, release YouTube videos, and sing with names like Kumar Sanu. Koshy's own work includes albums, film compositions, and an award-winning Kannada audio film, Reboot—a musical narrative of a techie's life.
"I always tell people to create original music, even though you have to spend money to do that. I saw in companies that everybody likes to sing... many are bathroom singers, lacking a platform, ecosystem. Now we have a community of 15,000 singers who want to be better at the art form and some have even gone on to make jingles," Koshy said.