The Beatles and India
Movie poster of the new documentary
You may be forgiven to have believed that Paul Saltzman’s 2020 film «Meeting the Beatles in India» was the last word, documentarywise, on The Beatles’ Indian adventure. Not so. Slated for a premiere at the UK Asian Film Festival on June 6, 2021 is «The Beatles And India».
A statement released by the filmmakers says, «The Beatles And India is a unique historical chronicle of the enduring love affair between The Beatles and India that started more than half a century ago».
«Rare archival footage, recordings and photographs, eye-witness accounts and expert comments along with location shoots across India, bring alive the fascinating journey of George, John, Paul and Ringo from their high octane celebrity lives in the West to a remote Himalayan ashram in search of spiritual bliss that inspires an unprecedented burst of creative songwriting».
«It is the first serious exploration of how India shaped the development of the greatest ever rock band and their own pioneering role bridging two vastly different cultures.»
The book that gave inspiration to the film.
The film was inspired by the book Across The Universe – The Beatles In India” by author Ajoy Bose, which was published in 2018. It will premiere on June 6 at the BFI in London as part of the Tongues On Fire UK Asian Film Festival.
The documentary will see wider distribution in the autumn, when it will be accompanied by an album of contemporary Indian musicians and artists covering Beatles songs written in or inspired by India. As a foretaste of this, the John Lennon composition «India India» has already been released.
Lennon recorded a home demo of the tune in 1980, which Yoko eventually released as a bonus on the 2010 Lennon signature boxed set.
Track list:
1. Tomorrow Never Knows – Kissnuka
2. Mother Nature’s Son – Karsh Kale / Benny Dayal
3. Gimme Some Truth – Soulmate
4. Across The Universe – Tejas / Maalavika Manoj
5. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide (Except Me And My Monkey) – Rohan Rajadhyaksha
6. I Will – Shibani Dandekar
7. Julia – Dhruv Ghanekar
8. Child Of Nature – Anupam Roy
9. The Inner Light – Anoushka Shankar / Karsh Kale
10. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill – Raaga Trippin
11. Back In The USSR – Karsh Kale / Farhan Ahktar
12. I’m So Tired – Lisa Mishra
13. Sexy Sadie – Siddharth Basrur
14. Martha My Dear – Nikhil D’Souza
15. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) – Parekh & Singh
16. Revolution – Vishal Dadlani
17. Love You To – Dhruv Ghanekar
18. Dear Prudence – Karsh Kale / Monica Dogra
19. India, India – Nikhil D’Souza
Who are those 3 people on the left side of George on the book cover? 😀
George is basically the only one that looks like himself.
Everyone else there look basically like themselves except for those 3 blocks
The book is terrible, and the film will be worse.
Hey you can sell it to me so that I can judge for myself.
https://www.amazon.com/Across-Universe-Beatles-India-2018/dp/0670089575
Is Paul Saltzman’s documentary about the Beatles in India available commercially ?
Yes, but not on a disc yet. But you can catch a stream here: https://gathr.us/screening/31653