A renowned sitar artist, Sanjay believes that art too requires proper marketing techniques.

Sanjay Deshpande is a solo artist and Indian classical musician. He had been playing the sitar for almost 50 years, and out of that he has been doing it professionally for 25 years.

Sanjay was born and brought up in Belgaum, Karnataka.

Recalling his childhood, Sanjay says that he was always fond of music. He remembers that when he was in fifth grade, he started playing the harmonium. His father and mother were too fond of classical music, and seeing him play the harmonium, they decided to make him learn under the proper guidance of a guru. In his school programs, he used to accompany singers with his harmonium. He started learning how to play the sitar, when he was in the seventh grade. He says that he did not feel lively learning to play the sitar, so he started skipping classes. He also returned the sitar given to him by his guru for practicing. After a few months, his father passed away. His father’s demise made him and his family mentally disturbed.

Sanjay says he wanted to start learning to play the sitar again as it was his father’s dream but was unable to confront his guru. He remembers the day when his guru visited their home and agreed to start teaching him again.

After that, he learned how to play the instrument with full dedication. He played the accordion and made cassettes. He got invited by a famous orchestra called "Melody Makers" in Pune to play keyboard in their group. After some time, he became the group leader. He also got the chance to accompany Kishore Kumar on his show and tour with him as an accordion artist.

Soon he realized that, as an accompanying artist, he would not be able to gain that much fame and respect, so he decided to again pursue classical music. So, he left the orchestra in 1998 and came back to Belgaum to practice sitar and also got engaged in his family business. He auditioned for various radio shows and got selected. In 1996–97, his programme was featured on Doordarshan.

Sanjay says that he was advised by a SPIC-MACAY artist to buy a new sitar for more technical upgradation. He met ustad Rais Khan, who was impressed by him, while he was tuning and playing the new sitar he had ordered in the shop. He says that he learned a lot about classical music and sitar playing from Ustad Rais Khan.

Sanjay remembers his father’s saying that it is very important to create our own identity. He was given this opportunity in 2002, when a well-known music director approached him about recording film songs with a sitar. He agreed and did the recording for four albums. He made himself out to be a sitarist who plays film songs. He also experimented with jazz and rock music. He added his own modifications to the instrument to broaden its repertoire.

Talking about his mistakes, Sanjay says that he regrets pursuing classical music because, for a classical artist, it becomes difficult to attract audiences in today’s trend of YouTube and OTT platforms. People prefer to watch TV rather than attend classical music shows.

When asked about his role models, Sanjay says he follows Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Rais Khan, Ustad Vilayat Khan, and Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan.

Sanjay says working hard with discipline becomes very important in one’s life, especially for an artist because an artist has to serve society with his art, so he has to be extra careful and live his life with discipline. He advises listening to good music for peace of mind.