Preserving a Musical Legacy: Sinha’s Plea for Bismillah Khan’s Heritage
In a heartfelt online post on Monday, filmmaker Anubhav Sinha expressed deep sorrow over the demolition of the late shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan's home in Varanasi and called for renewed respect for India’s artistic heritage.
The post came amid rumors that the house was being torn down to make way for a road widening scheme. The Varanasi Development Authority, however, rejected those claims, stating that no demolition order was issued by the agency. Instead, officials said the Khan family chose to dismantle the aging structure themselves to rebuild it from scratch.
Sinha recounted a recent trip to Varanasi with several young local influencers. While touring the city, the group spontaneously decided to visit the maestro’s residence. He described the modest rooftop chamber where Bismillah Khan once slept on a wooden cot, kept a few broken shehnais on a wardrobe, and practiced his art.
The filmmaker noted that despite the maestro’s national stature, he never earned enough to renovate the house, and that none of the royalties from his many recordings ever reached the home. "I felt my eyes well up while standing there," Sinha wrote, adding that the simple setting made him feel as if he were sharing the same space with the legend.
An old anecdote resurfaced in the post: during an interview, a journalist asked why Bismillah would grin while playing the shehnai. The answer – "How can every note be perfect each day? When it is, the heart fills with joy" – was later shared with singer Sunidhi Chauhan, who remained silent for ten minutes, moved by the sentiment.
Sinha also narrated a European episode where he played Bismillah Khan’s recordings for a French friend while driving through the continent. The friend, unfamiliar with the maestro, learned that Bismillah was born in 1916 and had created his signature sound long before many Western musicians, such as Jan Garbarek, rose to fame.
Emphasizing Bismillah Khan’s deep attachment to Banaras, Sinha wrote that the artist believed no other place could match the city’s spiritual aura. He clarified that his post was not intended to question the demolition but to introduce the younger generation to the maestro’s music and cultural significance.
The Varanasi Development Authority’s clarification and the family’s intention to build a museum on the reconstructed site aim to safeguard the legacy of a man who worshipped Saraswati and Shiva, bathed in the Ganga, and practiced his riyaz behind a temple. Sinha concluded with a call to action: protect the music, the heritage, and the memory of Bismillah Khan for future generations.