Ustad Bismillah Khan (Urdu: استاد بسم اللہ خان صاحب; March 21, 1916 – August 21, 2006) was an Indian shehnai maestro. He was the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna (in 2001), the highest civilian honour in India and gained worldwide acclaim for playing the shehnai for more than eight decades.

Bismillah Khan was born in a bihari Dalit Muslim family at Bhirung Raut Ki Gali, in Dumraon, Bihar, as the second son of Paigambar Khan and Mitthan. He was named as Qamaruddin to rhyme with Shamsuddin, their first son. His grandfather, Rasool Baksh Khan uttered "Bismillah" (the basmala) after looking at the newborn, thus he was named Bismillah Khan.

His ancestors were court musicians and used to play in Naqqar khana in the princely states of Bhojpur, now in Bihar. His father was a shehnai player in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh of Dumraon Estate, Bihar.

At the age of six, he moved to Varanasi. He received his training under his uncle, the late Ali Baksh 'Vilayatu', a shehnai player attached to Varanasi's Vishwanath Temple.

Vishnu Govind Jog, better known as V. G. Jog (22 Fehruary 1922 – 31 January 2004), was an Indian violinist. He was the foremost exponent of the violin in the Hindustani music tradition in the 20th century, and is credited for introducing this instrument into Hindustani music.

Jog was a disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan. He performed and recorded with many of the greatest Hindustani musicians of the 20th century (including Bismillah Khan) and toured the world. He frequently performed for All India Radio's Calcutta division. He received the Padma Bhushan award in 1982.

He earned a master's degree in music from Bhatkhande College of Hindustani Music in Lucknow in 1944 and went on to teach there. He also taught at the Ali Akbar College of Music.

Beginning in 1999, he suffered from Parkinson's disease, and also suffered from respiratory problems in his later years.

Pandit Vishnu Govind Jog, whose name is almost synonymous with the violin genre in Hindustani classical music, is a performer with the unique distinction of having occupied the top rungs of the Classical Musicians' hierarchy with three consecutive generations of performers. His career as a highly active and successful performer has spanned almost five decades. Born in Bombay in 1921 (or 22 according to some), he received his early training from S. C. Athavale and the late Ganpat Rao Purohit. Subsequently, he had his training from Vishweswar Shastry, the renowned musician and musicologist Dr. S. N. Ratanjarkar, and for a short time from the celebrated Ustad Allauddin Khan.

Goutam Ghose (also credited as Gautam Ghosh, Bengali: গৌতম ঘোষ) is one of the most acclaimed film directors of modern India.

He was born in Calcutta in 1950. He studied at the St John’s Diocesan School (now an all girls school), and at the Cathedral Missionary Boy’s School. Later he graduated from the University of Calcutta.

He started making documentaries in 1973. Took active part in group theatre movement in Calcutta. Also dedicated some time as a Photo Journalist. Made his first documentary– New Earth in 1973 followed by Hungry Autumn which won him the main award at the Oberhausen Film Festival. Has since made ten feature films including Maa Bhoomi, Dakhal, Paar, Antarjali Yatra, Padma Nadir Majhi, Patang, Gudia, Dekha, Abar Aranye, Yatra, Kaalbela & Moner Manush. Has made a number of prominent documentaries including Meeting A Milestone (on Ustad Bismillah Khan), Beyond the Himalayas, Land of Sand Dunes, Ray (On Satyajit Ray), Impermanence (On HH Dalai Lama) Made numerous AD films, corporate and other Short Films. Has won 16 National Awards (excld 2008) besides Filmfare Awards and many International awards like Silver Balloon Award, Nantes Film Festival, UNESCO Award, Cannes Film Festival, Grand Prix - Golden Semurg at Tashkent, UNESCO Award at Venice, Fipresci Awards, Red Cross Award at Verna Film Festival. Also the only Indian to win the coveted Vittorio Di Sica Award. Was awarded the Knighthood of the Star of the Italian Solidarity in July 2006.

Amjad Ali Khan (Hindi: अमजद अली ख़ान; IAST: Amjad Alī Khān) (born 9 October 1945) is an Indian classical musician who plays the sarod. Khan was born into a musical family and has performed internationally since the 1960s. He was awarded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2001.

Khan was born in Gwalior on 9 October 1945 as Masoom Ali Khan, the youngest of six children, to Gwalior court musician Hafiz Ali Khan and Rahat Jahan. His family is part of the Bangash lineage and Khan is in the sixth generation of musicians; his family claims to have invented the sarod. His personal name was changed by a sadhu to Amjad. Khan received homeschooling and studied music under his father. His family moved frequently and Khan performed on the sarod from a young age.

Khan first performed in the United States in 1963 and continued into the 2000s, with his sons. He has experimented with modifications to his instrument throughout his career. Khan played with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and worked as a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico. In 2011, he performed on Carrie Newcomer's album Everything is Everywhere with his sons.

Ustad Vilayat Khan (Bengali: বিলায়েত খাঁ Bilaeet Khã; August 28, 1928 – March 13, 2004) was one of India's well known sitar maestros. He recorded his first 78-RPM disc at the age of 8, and gave his last concert in 2004 at the age of 75.

Vilayat Khan was born in Gauripur, British India to Enayat Khan, a sitar maestro. His family of musicians trace their pedigree back to the court musicians of the Mughals. His father, recognised as a leading sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) player of his time, as had been the grandfather, Imdad Khan, before him. He was taught in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani Gharana or Etawah Gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad Khan lived.

However, Enayat Khan died when Vilayat was only nine, so much of his education came from the rest of his family: his uncle, sitar and surbahar maestro Wahid Khan, his maternal grandfather, singer Bande Hassan Khan, and his mother, Bashiran Begum, who had studied the practice procedure of his forefathers. His uncle Zinde Hassan looked after his riyaz (practice). As a boy, Vilayat wanted to be a singer; but his mother, herself from a family of vocalists, felt he had a strong responsibility to bear the family torch as a sitar maestro.