Early in the film, Shankar travels by train to the Madhya Pradesh town of Maihar, to see his father-in-law and esteemed music teacher (or guru), Allauddin Khan, known affectionately as "Baba". Worth recalls this visit as a nervous occasion for Shankar, who states in his role as narrator: "Whenever I think of I have a mixture of fear and awe. For us, "guru" is sometimes greater even than God." Another scene features dancers from the South Indian kathakali tradition, reflecting Shankar's early career as a dancer with elder brother Uday's pioneering troupe during the 1930s.