THE BEATLES
AND INDIA
DOCUMENTARY TO STREAM
EXCLUSIVELY ON BRITBOX IN NORTH AMERICA STARTING FEBRUARY 15, 2022
~SILVA SCREEN RECORDS
RELEASES COMPANION ALBUM THE BEATLES AND INDIA: SONGS INSPIRED BY THE FILM~
“When I first heard Indian
music, I just couldn’t really believe that it was so great, and the more I
heard of it, the more I liked it. It just got bigger and bigger, like a
snowball”.
-George Harrison
New York NY
(January 27, 2022) —Post summer of love, in 1968 the world’s most popular rock
and roll band, The Beatles had achieved mass fame and fortune yet were
searching for deeper meaning in their lives. Under the spiritual guidance of
Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Beatles took a trip to Rishikesh,
India to study Transcendental Meditation® and set
out on a path of deep enlightenment that would change the world.
Slated for release on February 15 via BritBox in North America,
the streaming service from BBC Studios and ITV, the award-winning feature
documentary, The Beatles And India (Silva Screen Productions,
Renoir Pictures) examines how Indian music and culture shaped the music of
John, Paul, George and Ringo and in turn, explores how The Beatles served
as ambassadors of this pioneering World music sound and cultural movement.
Drawing together an expansive archive of footage including
contemporaneous locale shooting in India, recordings, photographs, and
compelling first-hand interviews, The Beatles And India exhaustively
documents this East meets West touchstone in pop culture history. Purloining
inspiration from Ajoy Bose’s book Across The Universe - The Beatles
In India, the documentary is produced by British Indian music entrepreneur Reynold
D’Silva and directed by Bose (his directorial debut) and
cultural researcher Pete Compton. The Beatles And India has been awarded
Best Film Audience Choice and Best Music at the 2021 UK Asian Film Festival
“Tongues On Fire.”
The Beatles’ were first introduced to Indian music while
filming their 1965 film, Help!, which featured the Indian
musicians in a restaurant scene. George Harrison would become a lifelong
impassioned devotee of Indian music. He would soon buy his
first sitar, befriend and study under sitar master Ravi Shankar and
employ the instrument to revolutionary effect linking the worlds of pop music
with Indian music on the Beatles song, “Norwegian Wood,” which appears
on their Rubber Soul album. That song marked the group, and particularly
Harrison’s full on immersion into Indian music, a raga rock sound heard in
The Beatles songs, “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Love You To” (Revolver)
“Within You Without You” (Sgt. Pepper) and “The Inner Light (B-side to
the “Lady Madonna” single)”
In early
July 1966, while returning from shows in the Philippines, The Beatles
made a quick stopover in New Delhi, India, marking their first trip to the
country. Less than two years later, in February 1968, the group would return
for an extended sojourn at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh, India
where they would take a training course in Transcendental Meditation®. Their search for spiritual enlightenment would both shape their
thinking and values and indelibly color the sounds of their expanding musical
palette.
Silva Screen Records, in tandem with the documentary
release on BritBox in North America, presents a 19-song companion album:
The Beatles And India: Songs Inspired by The Film, featuring
wondrous interpretations of The Beatles songbook, blending traditional
and contemporary Indian influences, as recorded and performed by Indian artists
Anoushka Shankar (Ravi Shankar's daughter), Vishal Dadlani, Kissnuka, Benny
Dayal, Dhruv Ghanekar, Karsh Kale, and Soulmate. Many of the songs featured on
the album--“Mother Nature’s Son,” “Dear Prudence,” “Sexy Sadie,” Back in the
USSR,” “I’m So Tired,” “Julia,” I Will,” “The Continuing Story Of Bungalow
Bill,” Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey),” “Child
of Nature,” (later re-written and recorded by John Lennon in his solo career as
“Jealous Guy”)--were written during The Beatles 1968 extended stay in
Rishikesh, India and most would feature on the group’s 1968 double-album, The
Beatles, better known as “The White Album.”
The Beatles And India is an unforgettable audio-visual
experience that spotlights the legacy of that historic visit, chronicling The
Beatles’ crucial role as avatars of a musical movement inspiring newfound
societal and cultural awareness, weaving the fabric of pop and Indian music into
a unified force of positivity and spiritual exploration.
About Silva Screen Music Group:
The Silva Screen Music Group is a London based
independent record company, which is home to one of the world’s leading film
and television specialist soundtrack labels, Silva Screen Records. Alternative
rock label So Recordings is also part of the group and includes bands such as
Placebo and Enter Shikari. Founded by music devotee Reynold D’Silva in
1986, the group has a catalog of over 800 titles and in excess of 10,000 master
recordings, with offices in New York, Paris and Mumbai.
About BritBox:
BritBox
is a digital video subscription service offering the largest collection of
British TV in the U.S. and Canada. Created by two British content
powerhouses—BBC Studios, the subsidiary arm of the BBC, and ITV, the UK’s
biggest commercial broadcaster—the service features iconic favorites, exclusive
premieres, and current series and soaps—most available within 24 hours after
their UK premiere. BritBox also offers expert curation and playlists that
enable fans to easily find programs they know and discover new favorites via
the web, mobile, tablet and connected TVs.
Track
listing:
- Tomorrow Never Knows – Kiss Nuka
- Mother Nature's Son - Karsh Kale / Benny Dayal
- Gimme Some Truth – Soulmate
- Across The Universe - Tejas / Mali
- Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except Me And My
Monkey) - Rohan Rajadhyaksha / Warren Mendonsa
- I Will - Shibani Dandekar / Neil Mukherjee
- Julia - Dhruv Ghanekar
- Child Of Nature - Anupam Roy
- The Inner Light - Anoushka Shankar / Karsh Kale
- The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill - Raaga Trippin
- Back In The USSR - Karsh Kale / Farhan Ahktar
- I'm So Tired - Lisa Mishra / Warren Mendonsa
- Sexy Sadie - Siddharth Basrur / Neil Mukherjee
- Martha My Dear - Nikhil D'Souza
- Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) - Parekh &
Singh
- Revolution - Vishal Dadlani / Warren Mendonsa
- Love You To - Dhruv Ghanekar
- Dear Prudence - Karsh Kale / Monica Dogra
- India, India - Nikhil D'Souza
