He was just eight years old when he made his first recording for the Megaphone Company.His professional career was extensive. He made several international tours, has numerous recordings and has scored music for several films, including Satyajit Ray's "Jalsagar".
However, his professional career was not without controversy, much of which was a result of his steadfast adherence to his principles. He was a longtime critic of the political machinations that were behind the awarding of many of India's honors. He refused the Padmabhushan (one of India's top civilian honors) and was a longtime critic of the manner in which All India Radio was run. The only title that he ever embraced was the title Aftab-e-Sitar (Sun of Sitar).
Aside from his own musical genius, he was a man with firm views and a clear idea of how he wanted to live life. In the same interview with Thapar, Khan said, “I don’t want to be a president or any pop star, I want to be in my own shell.
Yet I want to know that in my own shell, I am the pearl.
Whoever wants to know me will open the shell.”
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One of his disciples, Mr. Dharambir Singh shared an interesting incident.
“It was sometime either in 1976 or 1977 when Ustadji got a telephone call from the office of Indira Gandhi. His young daughter Zila picked up the phone and said that she could not give the phone to her father as he was doing his riyaz. I was astonished — it was, after all, the prime minister of the country. Later that day, I asked Ustadji why he did not take the call from such an important person, and he told me, ‘The sitar is my companion for life. Prime Ministers will come and go but my relationship with the sitar is forever.”
(This incident Taken from ThePrint)
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The Ustad with Lata ji and Madan Mohan ji in the audience
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