Anoushka Shankar shared an update about her damaged sitar on Saturday — revealing that Air India had issued an apology. Fans were also relieved to learn that the damage had been mended ahead of her 2026 Chapters Tour. Shankar said the airline had also offered to compensate for the repairs and promised “a policy change after a full investigation into how this happened”.
“I’m waiting for the polish to fully dry before playing it properly, but it looks like it’ll live to see another day! I need to stress that although it was Air India in THIS instance, I have had terrible mishaps over the decades on other airlines too…After an incident in which both my father’s and my sitars were smashed on the same Air France journey many years ago, I started travelling with two instruments. I always fly with one sitar in the hold, and one in a seat. I even travel with a sitar tech on-hand to assist with any issues upon landing,” she wrote on Instagram.
Air India apologises
Air India had written a letter to the musician soon after she flagged the damage via social media. The airline also issued a statement on Thursday voicing “concern” about the incident and added that it was working with Shankar to “ascertain the cause of the damage”. The letter was shared on Instagram by Shankar and began by extending “our deepest and sincerest apologies”.
We fully understand and appreciate the profound cultural and personal significance of your instrument, not only as a vital part of your artistic expression but also as a cherished possession. The sitar holds a special place in Indian heritage and music, and we share the distress this incident may have caused you and your fans worldwide. Please be assured that we are treating this matter with the utmost urgency. We will thoroughly scrutinize the sequence of events leading to this damage with our ground service provider, airport operator and our internal teams,” the missive added.
Recurring issue
Shankar is no stranger to airline mishaps — having lost her belongings in the past and also seen instruments get damaged. The musician had lost her luggage in Berlin last year ahead of the final show of her European tour. The contents included all her clothes as well as her mizrabs – custom-fitted finger picks essential for playing the sitar. Netizens had rallied to suggest stores and contacts after Shankar issued a call for help.
“I just wouldn’t be able to tour the way I do without taking all these precautions, as airlines universally take so little care of musical instruments. It’s for that reason I’m really glad I posted a video of the near-catastrophic crack on my sitar. This situation would have been made immeasurably worse were I not in the position to have paid excess baggage fees to bring a second sitar with me, or have the kind of platform that meant the airline responded to my complaint,” she noted on Saturday.
