Wah, ustaad! How an award-winning podcast celebrating tabla legend Zakir Hussain came to life

(From left) Archana Iyer, Sumantra Ghosal, Mujeeb Dadarkar, and Ram Madhvani

Late Padma Bhushan Zakir Hussain, son and pupil of Allah Rakha Khan, took the tabla to the masses outside the classical circuit with one commercial: Wah! Taj. The commercial released in 1988, saw Hussain playing the instrument with a child at the Taj Mahal. It became the most watched commercial inspiring many children to take up the instrument.

Hussain, who was bestowed the status of Ustaad, passed away on December 15, 2024. To mark his 75th birth anniversary on March 9 this year, filmmaker Archana Iyer invited three guests who worked closely with Hussain during his time to share personal stories. The outcome was a podcast-documentary titled Documenting A Genius.

One of the interviewees was adman-turned-documentary-filmmaker Sumantra Ghosal, who made that commercial. He went on to make five more documentaries with the legend, dedicating 30-40 years of his career life. Director Ram Madhvani, who was part of one of the documentaries The Speaking Hand along with Hussain's long-time sound engineer Mujeeb Dadarkar, also features in the podcast.

Filmmaker Archana Iyer and Zakir Hussain

Within a two-hour studio slot and a tight budget, Iyer shot the podcast under her independent production Topiary Studios on February 4, and released it on March 9. Her entry to the Quill Podcast Awards 2026 made it as a finalist in the Best Video Podcast category and took home the Best Society and Culture Podcast award.

Iyer's association with Ustaad started as a line producer, editor, and location sound recordist under Ghosal, who was shooting a commissioned documentary for the Symphony Orchestra of India [SOI] in 2015. "Zakir is like Krishna, everybody thinks they have a piece of him. A combination of genius, talent and wit, his performances crossed many borders," says Iyer. While applications to the Quill award are free, the first round is a nomination process- based on voting.

The podcast paints an endearing picture of Ustaad, revealing the man behind the legend. Ghosal recalls the moment when he proposed the idea to document Zakir's journey over dinner at Outrigger at The Oberoi. "I offered to invest in equipment, time, and filmmaking, and requested him to get me access to concerts and artistes. He agreed. I confessed to him about knowing nothing about tabla, and Zakir replied: ‘That's wonderful because neither does the audience. Your journey of discovery can become theirs'."

Ghosal and Madhvani also share light-hearted experience of shooting Planet Drum, a world music album by Mickey Hart of the rock band Grateful Dead in 1991. Ghosal tells us about the importance of documenting artistes. "Otherwise, their work remains spread out wide and far across YouTube and people's memories. A good documentary filmmaker will collate that material, add insight to give you a feeling of the life, and times of the person. It offers the attitude of the artiste to his art: What did he do with it, what did he think about the tabla, and what did he leave behind for other tabla players to follow," explains Ghosal.

Madhvani's voice softens when we talk about Hussain. "Zakir's energy is palpable. There are few people, including him, that I met in my life who, when they enter a room, the energy changes and shifts. Sushmita Sen is one of them, Shah Rukh Khan is another, Mr [Amitabh] Bachchan is the third - where you can sense that here is genuinely a superstar," he says.

Dadarkar, who worked with Hussain for most of his shows, calls him surround sound. "He would be aware of microphones, EQ settings, and acoustics. He didn't need to but he possessed this 360-degree awareness," he says. He shares a story on the podcast about shouting at set up staff for disrupting a rehearsal. "I remember telling him not to get so angry. He looked at me and said, ‘I am not angry; I am just shouting for effect'."

Iyer leaves us with another anecdote: "When we were shooting for SOI, I would mic him every day, being my chirpy self. One day, I was in a bad mood and he caught it. Ustaad looked at me and simply wished me, ‘Good afternoon.' It jolted me back to life."

By the end of the hour, the viewer is left with the feeling of being privy to conversation among friends unpacking memories spent with a true artiste. We picture Ustaad playfully breaking into a Pink Panther tune, just like he often did mid-concert.