 During his time at Berklee, he was introduced to the music of Indian saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, whose use of a Western instrument in carnatic music surprised and inspired Mahanthappa.He would later travel to India on a grant to work with Gopalnath; the two played together in concert between 2005 and 2008 and collaborated on the album "Kinsmen" (2008), which fuses Western and Indian approaches to improvisation.In 2010, Mahanthappa recorded and released "Apex" with saxophonist Bunky Green.