Ravi Shankar (Bengali: রবি শংকর), often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian classical musician and composer who plays the sitar. He was described as "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by Ken Hunt of Allmusic.
Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the Apu Trilogy b...