Air India hits a sour note as Anoushka Shankar’s sitar arrives badly damaged
Grammy-nominated sitarist slams Air India in video showing deep cracks in her instrument after a flight.
Globally acclaimed sitarist Anoushka Shankar with multiple Grammy nominations publicly slammed Air India after discovering that her sitar, a traditional Indian stringed instrument, was severely damaged following a recent flight.
In an Instagram video shared by her, she showed the deep cracks on her instrument, including a long, deep split in the sitar’s body.
Shankar says this was the first time in 15–17 years that her sitar arrived at a destination damaged, despite travelling thousands of flights on multiple airlines.
“First, I was looking at the top of my sitar and I thought it was really out of tune. After I tuned it, I picked it up to play and that’s when I realised…This was my first time flying Air India in a long time. You’re the country this music belongs to,” she said in the video.
She emphasised that she had packed the sitar in a special case and had paid an extra “handling fee” to ensure its safety.
“How on earth does damage like this happen without willful disregard? It feels especially sad given that I’ve flown Air India after a long time, and it seems an Indian instrument can’t be safe with them,” she wrote in the caption of her video.
The video and her post drew widespread support from fans, fellow musicians and even other artists.
Comedian Zakir Khan commented, “This is extremely heartbreaking,” while music composer Vishal Dadlani wrote, “God, that’s heartbreaking! I’m so sorry.”
Musician Anvita Shankar added, “This is unbelievable. How terribly @airindia must’ve handled the sitar for this to happen inside those secure hard cases!!?? I’m so sorry.”