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| Images courtesy of MVD Visual |
While the story of legendary British rock band The
Beatles and their brush with India from February to April 1968 and their Transcendental
Meditation courses at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi which led to their
creation of The White Album is well documented and covered numerous
times in other Beatles programs including but not limited to The
Beatles Anthology, the new documentary film The Beatles and India tells
the story from India’s point of view this time.
Stemming from an original book by Indian journalist Ajoy
Bose Across the Universe: The Beatles in India and co-directed by cultural
researcher Peter Compton and the head of Silva Screen Music Group Reynold D’Silva
serving as producer, The Beatles and India offers up a wealth of never-before-seen
photographs, interviews, footage and audio interviews with members of The
Beatles. Though familiar territory
for countless music fans and historians, The Beatles and India talks particularly
about the band’s overarching cultural impact on India itself and why the
country became such an important touchstone for their musical careers.
Going over the band’s first encounter with a sitar during
the filming of Richard Lester’s Help! to George Harrison’s deep-seated
friendship with Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar and the band’s eventual three-month
retreat in Rishikesh where they penned much of The White Album, Ajoy
Bose’s film is invested in the details of their voyage and the cumulative
impact of their newfound home life away from the brick-and-mortar industry of
the Western world.
Featuring a bevy of interviews from historians Mark Lewisohn
and Steve Turner, interviews with Indian music store owners who sold equipment
to The Beatles and even includes archival interviews with KGB agent Yuri
Bezmenov and his thoughts on the ashram, The Beatles and India doesn’t
leave out details that contributed to the band’s eventual departure from the
retreat and leaves ample room for more than one point of view on the table. While on the one hand we get interviews
singing the praises of the Maharishi’s accomplishments, on the other hand it
doesn’t hide the man’s dirty laundry either.
Handsomely shot on digital video with archival footage
interspersed throughout, the only mistake the documentary makes is near the
beginning when it replays portions of George Harrison’s press conference
concerning India twice. Otherwise, this
Channel 4 produced British-Indian documentary offers a unique alternative
perspective to what we’ve come to know about The Beatles retreat to
India and the lasting impact of their trip with the controversial spiritual
teacher Maharishi.
Fans who know The Beatles from top to bottom,
backwards and forwards aren’t going to see or hear anything they haven’t known
about previously based on all the elements already available to the
public. But still, it is rare you get to
hear about it with Indian eyes and ears and moreover it speaks at length to the
“most powerful band’s” ability to bridge Indian culture into the Western
mainstream cultural consciousness. While
for some Beatles disciples this documentary might be a mere footnote,
for others its an eye-opening look into an important transitional chapter of one
of the world’s most important rock music groups.
--Andrew Kotwicki
