Anoushka Shankar 'devastated' after Air India damages her sitar

At a time when IndiGo, one of the leading airlines of the country, has left passengers frustrated and stranded for hours due to their operational disruptions, the Tata-owned Air India has also left the Grammy-nominated musician Anoushka Shankar ‘devastated’ after her sitar was significantly damaged during a recent flight. The international sitar virtuoso called out Air India and said the airline had charged her a special handling fee for the instrument, yet it was damaged.

The sitarist, who is all set to begin her ‘2026 Chapters Tour’ in India from Hyderabad on January 30, posted a video on ‘Instagram’ and showed a deep crack through the lower-rounded end of the musical instrument. She said in the video that she had discovered the damage after landing. “First, I was just looking at the top of my sitar and it was like really out of tune and 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 and this is the first time anything like this has happened to my instrument in 15 or 17 years. How have you done this? I have special cases. You guys charge a handling fee and yet you’ve done this,” she said in the video.

Anoushka mentioned that she was flying Air India after a long time, but was left truly disturbed by the airline’s mishandling of her musical instrument. Anoushka, the daughter of the legendary sitarist Pt Ravi Shankar, said that this was the first time her instrument had been mishandled by an airline in the last 15-17 years. “Devastated and truly disturbed by @airindia’s treatment of my sitar. 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 - after all the thousands of flights taken on other airlines without even a peg going out of tune,” said the 11-Grammy-nominated sitarist.

From Kaushiki Chakraborty, Vishal Dadlani, to Papon, several noted Indian musicians have expressed concern over the incident. “God, that’s heartbreaking! I’m so sorry!” wrote Dadlani.

Beginning the New Year, she will start touring the country and perform in six cities, including Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Kolkata. Speaking about her return to India, Anoushka earlier said, “Every performance in India feels deeply personal, but this tour comes at a particularly special moment. Together, we’ll mark 30 years of sharing my music on stage - three decades of growth, risk and reinvention.”