The Beatles and India: Bridging the East & West
Recently, news of Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, performing a ritual at the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj in India flooded our feeds. This is not the first time a famous Westerner has visited India on a spiritual journey. The sixties was a politically, socially and culturally tumultuous and consequential decade for America. The “hippie” movement was in full swing, with many Americans –including the now famous ones – trying new spiritual paths. Steve Jobs himself made his famously transformative spiritual trip to India as a teenager and then recommended Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to do the same.
But it was the iconic 60’s British rock band, the Beatles, who brought the practice of spiritual trips to India by Western celebrities to the forefront. The band’s immersion in Indian music, culture, philosophy, spirituality and meditative practices, and their influence on India is the theme of The Beatles and India, a 2021 documentary film written and directed by Indian author and political journalist Ajoy Bose and cultural researcher Peter Compton.
Produced by Reynold D’Silva, the film is inspired by Bose’s book Across the Universe: The Beatles in India, published in 2018, fifty years after the Beatles’ stay at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram. “The Beatles symbolized not just a new kind of music but a new kind of life. They represent the whole of the sixties to us,” says Bollywood veteran actor Kabir Bedi in the documentary.
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Several owners of music stores in India fondly recall the visits of one or more Beatles members to their stores, the simplicity in the demeanor of the world-famous musicians, how the craze for sitars, tablas and sarods grew after their visits and inclusion of the Indian musical instruments in their songs.
“What Beatles music did was liberate an entire generation from the cultural shackles of the past,” says classical music and santoor legend, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma (now deceased) in the documentary. He also speaks about band member George Harrison’s love for India, Indian music and spirituality, and his efforts in bringing attention to Indian classical music.
“They learned a lot from us and started following our customs,” says the manager’s wife at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s asharam. She is not identified by her name in the documentary.
Rare footage tells an iconic story
The 96-minute chronicle showcasing rare archival footage, photographs, eye-witness accounts and location shoots across various parts of India make the sojourn of the Beatles members – George, John, Paul and Ringo – an interesting watch.
The first half of the film documents the influence of sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar on the Beatles’ music. Old footage that shows their friendship is a treat to watch. Another archival gem was and All India Radio interview with George Harrison. Talking about their relationship with the sitar maestro, George said in the interview, “Sometimes I feel he is a dad as well.”
The second half of the documentary covers the relationship of the Beatles band members with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. While each of the musicians shared a different dynamic with the spiritual guru and his teachings, all of them stayed at the ashram in Rishikesh for different durations.
One enduring theme of the documentary is the influence of the Maharishi and meditative practices on the band’s songs; their stay at the ashram led to the most creative songwriting time in their careers. Their India period gave us some of the Beatles’ most memorable songs, including Mother Nature’s Son, Revolution, Sexy Sadie, Dear Prudence and Child of Nature.
The documentary also explores how India evolved the iconic band and how the band helped bridge the Eastern and Western cultures. It documents the band’s experimentation with LSD, the hippie movement of the sixties, and their parting ways with the Maharishi. From their high-octane celebrity lives in the West to a remote Himalayan ashram in search of spiritual bliss, the documentary captures the essence of the Beatles’ love for Indian music and spirituality.
The Beatles and India is available to watch on Amazon Prime via BritBox.