Niladri Kumar

Niladri Kumar (born 1973, Kolkata) is an Indian sitar player, composer, and music director hailing from a five-generation lineage of sitarists. Under the guidance of his father and guru, Pandit Kartick Kumar — a prominent disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar — Niladri began learning sitar at age four and gave his first public performance at six at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. Rooted in the Maihar gharana tradition, he is known for his expansive modern sitar style and for inventing the zitar, an electric sitar with reduced strings and a built-in pickup. He has collaborated with Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin, A.R. Rahman, and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. His awards include the Sangeet Natak Akademi's Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar (2007), MTV Immies Best Classical/Fusion Instrumental, and the 64th Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent (2019). He currently serves as Dean of Maya Somaiya College of Performing Arts at Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai.