…says Pandit Ravi Shankar who gives his ‘last live performance’ in Mumbai tomorrow with daughter Anoushka

I don’t know whose idea it was to market Pandit Ravi Shankar’s concert at the Shanmukhananda Hall tomorrow as being the Bharat Ratna sitar maestro’s last live performance in Mumbai. The Panditji, however, was most amused. Yes, he is almost 90, and in frail condition; he gets about with a walking stick and by leaning on the shapely and tanned arm of his ravishing daughter Anoushka. But last concert, I doubt! “Since 1980, I’ve done some 60 farewell concerts in Mumbai,” the three-time Grammy winner told me with a twinkle in the eye. “The organisers say it’s my final show. I tell them, no, it’s the semi-final!” And young Anoushka Shankar, looking like she had leaped out of the centerfold of some American fashion glossy, added with spirit, “As long as he’s able to…”
They’re giving this sitar recital together, father and daughter and master and disciple, a rare treat for classical music aficionados in Mumbai, because the Panditji is selective about where he performs nowadays. I don’t blame him. At his age, God bless, how many musicians do you know who jet around the world giving live concerts! He corrected me there. “Oh, there are many in the West, pianists, violinists, and quite a few in India who are in their 80s. But who took the cake was Gangubai (Hangal). I heard her one cold, wintry night in Delhi. She was 92, then. And unbelievable!” His own performances, the Panditji revealed, had much to do with the venue and inspiration he got from the audience. “I’m either here or here,” he said raising his hands to different levels. “And the concerts are more or less. Tomorrow, I hope it is more…”
Of that, I have no doubt, the Panditji’s own fears notwithstanding. The lovely Anoushka pouted, “I go onto the stage frightened for him. I see him backstage, he’s barely able to walk, I look at his blood pressure… then 20 minutes into the recital, he’s sitting up straight, looking younger, and then he goes on to play for two hours!” He interrupted her, “Once I start, I forget everything, the music gives me a jolt. But every programme is always like the first time, I have a sense of anxiety, it enables me to give my best.” She snatched back the conversation, “Me too, we do a sound check and then go to separate dressing rooms. There is a calming element to this routine, this moment before a concert, it helps me personally to focus.”
I was enjoying this jugalbandi between the two who seldom if ever give interviews together. Tentatively I asked, what was it like performing together. He answered, “She’s an extension of me. What I’m thinking, I stop and pass onto her. She takes it and makes a beautiful moment out of it.” Anoushka carried on, “It feels special to simultaneously improvise, it’s quite magical, I do the best to use such opportunities to do my best… you know what I mean? This is my expression, and at the end of the day what I’ve done is what makes me happy… it feeds my soul.” The Panditji picked up the baton, “We do rehearse, but I’m a great believer in improvisation, that’s my forte, to take something that’s not a fixed idea, to be open and creative…” Anoushka cut in, “The trouble is sometimes he gets so inspired, that he gets into the raga and forgets he has to pass it on to me…”
I could see there’s plenty of music left in Pandit Ravi Shankar. Tata Indicom’s live concert ‘Anant’ in Mumbai tomorrow will only be a part of it. Anoushka Shankar said wistfully, “I miss the element of being able to relax and watch him perform. I haven’t done this since I was ten. I guess being on stage is the best of all worlds… I’m playing with him and watching him in a more intimate way than anybody else. But I feel bad for him because when I’m performing solo, I don’t want him to watch me… I’m too scared to play!” The Panditji looked at her in amazement. “She’s fantastic,” he told me, “she can do anything she wants. At one of her concerts, somebody asked me, ‘Are you her father?’ And I replied, ‘No, she is my daughter!’”

Anoushka, Mumbai, Pandit Ravi Shankar