Believe it or not, Raakhee Gulzar spent weeks learning how to play the Sitar from the maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar himself. It was for her role of the unfulfilled housewife in Aparna Sen’s <em>Paroma .</em> Recalling the glorious time she had strumming those magical strings under the guidance of the master Sitarist Raakhee says, “There were scenes in <em>Paroma </em> where my character was shown to be playing the Sitar. Neither Aparna nor I wanted to fake it. Pandit Ravi Shankar was requested to give me Sitar lessons.”