Škoda Auto India has teamed up with musician Rishab Rikhiram Sharma for a cinematic film marking the launch of the all-new Kodiaq RS, blending precision engineering with Indian neo-classical music as the brand marks 125 years in motorsport and over five decades of the RS badge.
Following their earlier collaboration on the Octavia RS, the new film, titled “Surrender,” tracks the Kodiaq RS across India’s varied terrain alongside Sharma’s composition “Burning Ghat,” performed on his electric sitar, Sitara. The film is structured around three movements – Discovery, Dialogue and Revelation – built around the idea of the car and the instrument responding to each other in real time.
Ashish Gupta, Brand Director, Škoda Auto India, said the brand’s legacy rests on endurance and evolution, and that continuing the partnership with Sharma after the Octavia RS felt like a natural next step given the Kodiaq RS’s all-terrain character.
Sharma said the film reflects his belief that music and rhythm are intrinsic to motion, with the car’s performance and his sitar’s tonal range exploring a shared link between movement, emotion and artistic expression.
The RS lineage dates back to the 1975 Škoda 130 RS, with the Octavia becoming the brand’s first road-going RS model in 2000 and arriving in India in 2004. The Kodiaq RS now becomes Škoda’s first SUV in India to carry the badge. Sharma, known for blending classical sitar traditions with contemporary sound and for his “Sitar for Mental Health” performance series, holds a dual degree in Music Production and Economics
