Anoushka Shankar slams Air India for damaging her sitar despite handling fee

Multiple Grammy-nominated musician Anoushka Shankar has publicly slammed Air India after her sitar was damaged during her recent travel, despite the airline charging her a handling fee. Expressing deep frustration, she said she was “devastated” and questioned how they could be so careless.

The musician, who is the daughter of late sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, took to Instagram on Wednesday to voice her anger at Air India after discovering her sitar had been damaged in transit. Sharing a video of the broken instrument, she detailed her recent travel experience and criticised the airline for its handling.

In a video, Anoushka is heard saying, “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. This is the first time anything like this has happened to my instrument in 15 or 17 years.”

She then showed the cracks on her sitar in the video, and publicly questioned Air India, mentioning, “How have you done this? I have special cases, you charge a handling fee and yet you've done this?”

A post shared by Anoushka Shankar (@anoushkashankarofficial)

She posted the video with a caption that read, “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 thousand of flights taken on other airlines without even a peg going out of tune.”

The post soon attracted an outpouring of support from fans and fellow musicians, many of whom called on Air India to address the issue.

Comedian Zakir Khan commented, “This is extremely heartbreaking,” while music composer Vishal Dadlani wrote, “God, that's heartbreaking! I'm so sorry.”

Last month, Anoushka picked up multiple Grammy nominations for her latest work, Chapter III: We Return to Light. The project, created with sarod maestro Alam Khan and percussionist Sarathy Korwar, landed a nod in the Best Global Music Album category. The EP blends deeply-rooted Indian classical textures with modern soundscapes - something Shankar has mastered across her two-decade career. The 2026 Grammys are set for Sunday, February 1, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Source: HindustanTimes
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