From Delhi to the White House: The Rise of Rishab Sharma

Rishab Rikhiram Sharma has quickly become one of the most recognisable young faces in Indian classical music, especially among Gen Z listeners who discovered him through viral sitar interpretations of pop and film hits. His videos, ranging from a delicate reimagination of “Tumhi Dekho Naa” to a stirring rendition of the Game of Thrones theme, have garnered millions of views and reshaped how young people perceive the sitar. But behind this rapid rise is a deeply personal story, one rooted in grief, healing and a renewed relationship with music.

Sharma was in New York in late 2020 when his maternal grandfather was admitted to a hospital in Delhi. It was the height of the pandemic, with strict restrictions keeping families apart. Unable to return home, he stayed connected through intermittent FaceTime calls, often playing sitar for his grandfather in an attempt to bridge the distance. When his grandfather passed away, the loss devastated him. Speaking from his home in Delhi, the 26-year-old recalls retreating into isolation, losing his appetite and almost abandoning the instrument he had played since childhood.

Therapy eventually helped him begin to recover, and slowly, the sitar became part of that healing process. Sharma started going live on Instagram and Clubhouse, sharing music and speaking candidly about grief and mental health. The sessions became a safe space for both him and the audiences who joined him regularly. What started as a way to cope soon evolved into Sitar For Mental Health, a project where he used improvisation and reflective performances as a form of communal emotional support.

This year, the initiative turned into a ten-city tour across India, where Sharma presented a two-hour set combining pranayama, meditative surbahar passages and immersive sitar improvisations. His original compositions gained the same momentum online as his viral covers. Alongside these milestones, Sharma also made history in 2022 when he became the first sitarist to perform a solo set at the White House. His exploration of ancient Raga Chikitsa traditions has only deepened his interest in music as a tool for emotional and physical well-being.

Sharma’s appearance often surprises people who assume classical musicians must fit a particular mould. When we speak, he is wearing a backward baseball cap and sparkling diamonds in both his ears and teeth. His aesthetic may lean modern, but his lineage is steeped in tradition. Sharma comes from a family of highly respected instrument makers whose creations have been used by legends like Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Talvin Singh and Daler Mehndi. He himself is the final disciple of the late Pandit Ravi Shankar, after the maestro came across a video of Sharma performing and invited him to study under him. For Sharma’s parents, it felt like a divine blessing.

Through his teenage years, Sharma immersed himself in rigorous training, first under Ravi Shankar’s guidance and later with the maestro’s disciple Pandit Parimal Sadaphal. He moved to New York at seventeen to study music production and economics, where he found himself enthralled by the city’s thriving rap and jazz cultures. These influences are woven seamlessly into his music today. Tracks like “Text Me When You Reach” place the sitar within a lo-fi hip-hop landscape, while the Spotify-commissioned “Kautilya (The Echo Project)” with Naveen Kumar and Anuradha Pal glides effortlessly between Hindustani classical motifs and contemporary trap-inspired production.

His time in New York also fueled an interest in fashion. Rather than the traditional kurta worn by many classical musicians, Sharma opts for statement looks by designers like Suket Dhir and Agraj Jain. He even wears mehendi during live performances, a choice that initially made him nervous due to gender stereotypes. After trying it for the “Kautilya” music video, he embraced it fully, drawing motifs inspired by Shiva and viewing the designs as a way to channel spiritual energy into his playing.

Despite his growing fame, Sharma remains rooted in his family’s legacy. He still spends time at their musical instrument store in Delhi, where he first developed the idea for his next big project: making sitars accessible for young learners. Many children enter the store curious about the instrument, only to be discouraged by the price of handcrafted sitars. Sharma hopes to change that. The goal, he says, is simple: ghar ghar sitar. He dreams of a future where every Indian household has at least one sitar, ensuring that the instrument continues to evolve and thrive with the next generation.