The Beatles in India – new documentary
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| Beatles et al in India. Photo: Paul Saltzman |
PRESS RELEASE:
The Beatles In India
A feature film documentary about Transcendental Meditation, the quest for inner peace,
prolific song-writing and the road to The White Album… Set to be released in 2018
UK, London: Thursday 1st February 2018 – New feature film documentary THE BEATLES IN INDIA, directed by two time Emmy award winning producer-director, Paul Saltzman and produced by Paul Saltzman & Reynold D’Silva for Sunrise Films, Ren/oir Pictures & Silva Screen is set to be released worldwide in Autumn 2018.
In 1968, with the eyes of the world upon them, The Beatles travelled to Rishikesh, India, to study Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in a remote ashram on the banks of the sacred river Ganges. Those few short weeks became one of the most prolific and creative periods of their lives.
Also present at the ashram was a young Canadian filmmaker named Paul Saltzman, there to heal a recently broken heart while seeking his own path to understanding and enlightenment. In the informal and relaxed atmosphere, he captured some of the most famous and intimate photographic portraits of The Beatles ever taken.
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| Photos: Paul Saltzman |
The film details Saltzman’s return journey to India, The Beatles stay and the songs they composed at the ashram as well as meditation as it applies to creativity, the divine inner journey and the healing power of love and music.
Integral to the story will be the background of many of the songs written in India and how they progressed through their initial writing, intensive rehearsals back in England and the release of the White Album on November 22nd, 1968.
Rarely seen footage and images, in depth interviews from India, the UK and North America and an authoritative team behind the film heralds its release later this year.
Producer Reynold D’Silva said: “The idea of a Beatles in India documentary has been with me since the mid-nineties. By pure coincidence, or perhaps it was fate, three separate people put me in touch with Paul early last year. It turned out he had been harbouring the idea for even longer than I had! After our first phone call, we were set on a path to produce the film together. Paul has a stellar track record in his field of producing and directing films. He has a clear vision with a profound knowledge of the subject matter borne out by the fact he was at the ashram in Rishikesh with The Beatles in February, 1968.”
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| Paul Saltzman’s new Beatles in India book |
And that’s the press release. As you may have noticed, the distribution of the film is not announced, so we don’t know whether it will be a theatrical release, a TV documentary or if it’s a straight-to-dvd & Blu-ray kind of thing. The progression of The Beatles’ compositions from concept to finished recordings will be a difficult task to document, unless they have gotten into a deal with Apple and Universal Music about the use of original recordings. Also, the description “rarely seen footage and images” probably means that there’s nothing new, Beatles scholars, photo and video collectors will already be familiar with all of this, but it still may appear new to the public at large.
Book
Meanwhile, Saltzman’s photos from the ashram is about to be made available again in the hardcover book Beatles In India – due out 13. Feb, 2018 in the UK and USA. Also available as a Deluxe edition, limited to 350 copies.
Back in 2000, you could find Saltzman’s photos from the ashram in the book “The Beatles in Rishikesh”.
Links:
The Beatles in India book (Amazon UK)
If the Beatles don't release the remaining Esher demos this year, don't they fall into the public domain in the UK/EU?
The compositions would require mechanical licenses, but the Beatles couldn't stop the release of the actual recordings, if I understand the
law correctly.
Problem solved for Saltzman, in the EU at least.