Referencing closed workbook to get cell values

New here. Have searched the site but could not find a satisfactory answer.

I have the path of the directory in Cell A1 = C:\Sundeep\ I have the file name in Cell B1 = ibm

Now what I want is the value of cell C6 on sheet data in the file C:\Sundeep[ibm.xlsm]data!C6 and want to put it in cell C1 in the current workbook. I don't want to use vba code and I don't want to use indirect (as that requires the ibm.xlsm to be open).

If I put this string in C1 (hardcoded), then it works ='C:\sundeep[ibm.xlsm]data'!$C$6

However, if I try something like this =CONCATENATE("'",A1,"[",B1,".xlsm]data'!")$c$6 it does not work.

Any help is appreciated.

IMO concatenate creates a text string and that's why it's not working, as excel is not recognizing it as a "data source", but just thinks that it's any other sentence.

Wouldn't something like this work?

A1='C:\sundeep
A2=ibm

=A1&[A2.xlsm]data'!$C$6

Most likely not. Other options are yeah, VBA, or indirect. I've also read about evaluate formula.