When a musician’s strings break on stage, they cry. But when an instrument that has been around for a long time breaks in the middle of a flight, people pay attention. In December 2025, Anoushka Shankar, a world-famous sitar player, said that her beloved sitar was badly damaged during a flight with Air India, even though she paid extra for “special handling.” When she posted a video on social media showing the broken and cracked structure of her instrument, fans, musicians, and cultural institutions were all shocked.
Anoushka Shankar views the sitar as more than just a simple wooden instrument. Her father Pandit Ravi Shankar’s legacy, decades of her art, and the emotional power of every raga she has ever played are all encapsulated in the sitar. The event sparked global discussions about the fragility of cultural artifacts during shipping and the limitations of even the largest shipping companies in safeguarding artistic heritage.
This heartbreaking moment came at a time when Anoushka was celebrating several Grammy nominations and worldwide praise for her latest work. It was a painful contrast between artistic success and logistical failure. But in many ways, the event reminded her of how strong she is, how artistic she is, and how long she has been playing the sitar.
What follows is a full account of her life, work, accomplishments, the recent event, and why her voice, both musical and social, is more important than ever.
Table of Contents
Anoushka Shankar Biography: Age, Birthplace, Husband, Children, and More
Name: Anoushka Shankar
Full Name: Anoushka Hemangini Shankar
Profession: Sitarist, Composer, Music Producer
Date of Birth: 9 June 1981
Age: 43 years (as of 2025)
Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
Nationality: British-Indian
Father: Pandit Ravi Shankar (Legendary Sitar Maestro)
Mother: Sukanya Shankar
Half-Sister: Norah Jones (Singer, Grammy Winner)
Marital Status: Divorced
Ex-Husband: Joe Wright (Film Director)
Children: 2 Sons – Zubin Shankar Wright & Mohan Shankar Wright
Genres: Indian Classical, Fusion, World Music, Experimental
Years Active: 1995–Present
Popular Albums: Rise, Traveller, Traces of You, Love Letters, Land of Gold
Awards: 9× Grammy Nominations, Songlines Award, House of Commons Shield
Recent Incident (2025): Sitar severely damaged during Air India flight
Current Residence: London, United Kingdom
Anoushka Shankar: Early Life and Musical Roots
- Anoushka Shankar was born on June 9, 1981, in London. Anoushka Shankar developed her love of music long before she ever touched a sitar. Her father, sitar master Pandit Ravi Shankar, and her mother, Sukanya Shankar, were both musicians, so she grew up surrounded by the sounds of Indian classical music. At the age of seven, her father taught her how to play the sitar. By the time she was nine, she was already getting serious lessons.
- Anoushka’s childhood was wonderfully complicated. She lived in London, Delhi, and California, where she learned about many different cultures. She worked diligently at both music and school, and in the end she was one of the few young artists who could handle both regular schoolwork and difficult classical training.
- When she was 13, she played in front of an audience for the first time. By the time she was 15, she was going on international tours with her father. The exposure improved her skills and gave her a deeper understanding of stagecraft, improvisation, and how raga performance can be meditative.
- Her half-sister Norah Jones is a Grammy-winning singer who is also part of the same famous family tree. This makes the Shankar family one of the most important families in modern world music.
Rise to Global Fame
Anoushka Shankar’s career started early on. She signed with Angel Records when she was 16 and released her first album, which quickly got a lot of attention around the world. Her calmness, accuracy, and maturity impressed reviewers, traits uncommon in teenage musicians.
Over the next twenty years, she grew into a talented artist who worked in many different styles, including
- Hindustani classical music,
- world fusion,
- contemporary electronica,
- jazz collaborations,
- orchestral compositions, and
- film scores.
 Because she had this freedom as an artist, she was one of the most creative sitar players of her time. Anoushka didn’t stick to her classical roots like many other musicians do. Instead, she used them as a springboard to explore new sounds.
 Some of Anoushka Shankar’s most famous albums are
- Rise (2005)
which was nominated for a Grammy and mixed traditional Indian music with modern production.
- Traveler (2011)
A musical journey that connects Indian classical music with flamenco music.
- Traces of You (2013)
This album by Norah Jones was very emotional and dealt with loss, memory, and healing.
- Letters of Love (2020)
An EP that was nominated for a Grammy and showed off her vulnerability and ability to tell stories in song.
Anoushka Shankar Awards, Honors and Global Recognition
Anoushka Shankar has been nominated for nine Grammys, making her one of the most nominated Indian-born women in the history of the awards.
Some of the awards she has won are
- She has been awarded the title of Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.
- British House of Commons Shield
- Songlines Music Award
- Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Oxford (2024)
- Invitations to headline at multiple global festivals Her ability to combine classical music with sounds from around the world has won her a loyal international following
Anoushka Shankar’s Musical Style: Tradition Meets Innovation
What makes Anoushka special is that she can easily balance discipline and experimentation.
Her music is
1. Classical Accuracy
 She possesses extensive knowledge about ragas, taans, and the art of improvisation.
2. Changeable emotions
She plays with a smooth, expressive touch that shows thoughtfulness, pain, and joy.
3. Influences from around the world
She works fearlessly with flamenco artists, electronic producers, orchestral composers, and jazz musicians.
4. Storytelling in different cultures
Every one of her albums tells a story about moving, being a woman, being sad, feeling like you belong, and finding yourself.
Work Beyond Music: Activism & Social Advocacy
Anoushka is also known for being a strong supporter of:
- Women’s rights
- Arts education
- Preserving culture
- Immigrant rights
- Raising awareness of domestic abuse  She has talked about her own experiences in public and used her platform to promote healing, compassion, and justice. In her speeches at international events, she often talks about how art can heal and how society needs to protect its artists.
Anoushka Shankar: The 2025 Air India Incident That Shocked the World
What Happened?
Anoushka Shankar took her sitar, the same one she had been playing for years, on an Air India flight in early December 2025. She paid extra for special handling, which is a service that airlines offer to make sure that fragile items are handled with care.
But when she opened her case after she landed, she saw that the instrument was badly broken.
 Anoushka Shankar video shows:
- A broken neck
- Cracked wooden frame
- Misaligned bridges
- Snapped strings
- Damage to the structure that looks like it was handled roughly
The emotional burden was clear. She said she was “devastated” and couldn’t believe that an instrument that meant so much to her and her culture could be broken so easily.
What People Thought
Within hours, the event went viral.
- Musicians from all over the world, including
- classical violinists,
- guitarists, and
- sarod players,
- spoke out against the airline’s carelessness.
Fans were shocked that:
- A carrier that represents India’s heritage
- Mishandled an instrument that represents Indian culture around the world
The anger grew because many touring artists have had similar problems, which made her story a spotlight on a common problem.
What the damage means for culture
A sitar is not just a musical instrument to many people; it is also a symbol of Indian classical music. Breaking a painter’s brush, scratching a photographer’s lens, burning a writer’s manuscript, or cracking a violin that took years to tune and perfect are all examples of how damaging an artist’s main instrument is. For sitar players, their instruments are often made to order and have been played for decades, giving them unique sounds that can’t be replaced. It can take months to fix this kind of damage, and sometimes the original sound can’t be restored.
Air India’s Response
When the incident went viral, Air India had not yet made a full public statement, which made people even more angry. Many people asked for:
- Compensation
- A formal apology
- Better policies for handling instruments
- The debate also brought up the issue of airlines around the world not taking care of valuable musical instruments.
How the Incident Reflects the Larger Reality of Touring Musicians
For many musicians, taking their instruments on trips is a constant fight.
They have to deal with:
- Unsafe handling
- Airline rules that aren’t always clear
- Staff that isn’t trained
- Not enough categories for fragile items in their luggage
The world of music woke up when Anoushka’s story came out. Musicians started telling their own scary stories:
- Broken violins
- Damaged veenas
- Crushed guitars
- Mishandled tablas Her fame helped bring attention to a problem that is often ignored.
Anoushka Shankar: Strength and Resilience
Anoushka’s spirit is still strong, even though things didn’t go her way. She still performs, writes songs, and inspires others. The event showed how much she cared about her instrument and how determined she was.
Fans liked how open and honest she was. She didn’t hide the loss; instead, she turned it into a talk about:
- Respect for other cultures
- Protecting artists
- Being responsible Being open like this is one of the things that makes her more than just a musician; she is a voice for artists everywhere.
Conclusion
- Anoushka Shankar’s life is a testament to art, culture, and change. She has become one of the most important sitarists of modern times, from learning from her father as a child to winning Grammy Awards and working on groundbreaking projects that cross genres.
- The Air India incident in 2025 was heartbreaking for her and for the music community around the world. It reminded me that cultural tools are priceless and that protecting them should be a top priority, not something to contemplate later.
- However, Anoushka Shankar consistently overcomes her challenges. Her music still crosses borders, her voice still inspires change, and her story shows how art can last forever, even though it is fragile.
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