Ravi Shankar | Aishwarya Rai

Ravi Shankar, the well-known sitar player, was born in 1920, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

He started his career as a dancer in his brother, Uday Shankar’s dance troupe.

From 1948-1956, he was the music director of All India Radio.
Between 1955-59, he composed the music for Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy.

In 1956, he became the first Indian instrumentalist to go on a world tour.

In 1962, he established the Kinnara School of Music in Mumbai and also propagated an interest in Indian music abroad.

George Harrison, a number of the Beatles, a famous pop music group, was his best-known student.

In 1969, he went to Woodstock, in the USA, to participate in a music concert. In the same year, he published his autobiography, My Life, My Music.

He is known all over the world for his compositions, including his sitar concerts.

He has also been nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

He has been awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the Kalidasa Samman, and the Magasaysay award.

He was recently awarded the highest honour in the country, the Bharat Ratna.