Ustad Bismillah Khan: Shehnai ke Sehenshah

Bismillah Khan (Urdu: استاد بسم اللہ خان صاحب‎; 21 March 1913 – 21 August 2006), often referred to by the honorific title Ustad, was an Indian musician credited with popularising the shehnai, a subcontinental wind instrument of the oboe class. While the shehnai had long held importance as a folk instrument played primarily during traditional ceremonies, Ustad ji is credited with elevating its status and bringing it to the concert stage.  He was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2001, becoming the Third classical musician after M. S. Subbulakshmi and Ravi Shankar to be accorded this distinction.

Bismillah Khan was perhaps single-handedly responsible for making the shehnai a famous classical instrument. He brought the shehnai to the center stage of Indian music with his concert in the Calcutta All India Music Conference in 1937. He was credited with having almost monopoly over the instrument as he and the shehnai are almost synonyms.

Ustad ji is one of the finest musicians in post-independent Indian classical music and one of the best examples of Hindu-Muslim unity in India. He played the shehnai to audiences across the world. He was known to be so devoted to his art form that he referred to shehnai as his begum (wife in Urdu) after his wife died. On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was buried with him. He was known for his vision of spreading peace and love through music. 
“ Even if the world ends, the music will still survive. ” 
 “ Music has no caste. ”

Ustad ji lived in the holy city of Benaras, situated on the banks of the river Ganges..A documentary 'Bismillah and Banaras' traces the symbiotic relationship between the Shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan and the city of Benaras. As a young boy, Bismillah would play the Shehnai everyday at the Kashi Vishwanath temple - a tradition that he continued over the years. In his travels across the world, Bismillah remarks that his eyes are capable of seeing and imagining only Benaras. Bismillah Khan was awarded the Bharat Ratna award for his contribution to the world of Indian classical music and for raising the status of the Shehnai to the level of a concert instrument. This film is a tribute to the sheer genius of a musician and also his love for the city of Benaras.