The Rebel
Sometimes, it happens. Shujaat Khan, son of sitar legend Vilayat Khan, felt the pressure. So he rebelled. When he was 16, he fused around with jazz and rock bands in the West, went on a "world tour" to "defy convention", as he puts it. As recently as 1996, he made waves as a folk singer with his first album Lajjo Lajjo.

Today, the rebel is a first-rate sitar player and teacher. A follower of his father's gayaki style, he has created a territory and identity of his own. "I don't mind experimentation," says Shujaat, exalted for his mastery of tone and resonance he coaxes out of his sitar. "In the next millennium one can't have an ostrich-like approach." But he's strict about one thing, leeway included: it's give-everything or bust, for himself and his students. It's his father's legacy and at the end of the day, his father's counsel. "Achha bajana beta, Allah tumhare saath hai," he would say. Shujaat heard. Even rebels need a cause.