Ustad Bismillah Khan got his big break in 1938 when the All India Radio in Lucknow was opened. His shehnai performances on the radio made him widely known, and he became an often-heard shehnai player. Additionally, in the same year, he gained recognition with his performance at the All India Music Conference in Kolkata. This helped establish him as a master of the shehnai and bring the instrument into the limelight. His career was further cemented by his historic performance at the Red Fort in Delhi on August 15, 1947, during India's first Independence Day celebrations, where he played the shehnai as the national flag was unfurled.
