Indiana Tones

The film,which premiered on October 5 on HBO,was screened on Wednesday evening at the 13th Mumbai Film Festival. According to Harrison’s wife Olivia,this is a film that should be shown to Indian audiences as the famous guitarist shared a deep connection with the country and its musicians. In fact,the film features some very rare archival footage of Harrison jamming and performing with Pandit Ravi Shankar,Ustad Alla Rakha,Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and other Indian musicians. Once the first half of the documentary showing the magnitude of Beatlemania is over,it focuses on Harrison’s association with Indian musicians,his visits to India and to what extent he was affected by the Indian philosophy. “The documentary follows the way his life progressed. After the Beatles split up,he grew fonder of Indian music. He loved Indian musical instruments — sitar,veena,tabla and sarangi,” says Olivia.

Most of the material for the documentary came from Harrison’s family archives. “George kept extensive records of his Beatle’s days,his sessions with Indian musicians,photographs with the family and letters,” says Tedeschi.

However,what makes this documentary special is that Eric Clapton,Paul McCartney,Ringo Starr,Yoko Ono and others have openly spoken about their relationship with Harrison. In fact,Clapton talks about falling in love with George’s then wife,Pattie Boyd.

Though happy with the way the documentary has finally shaped up,Olivia has one regret: “We couldn’t pack more music in it.

At least another 10 years of music were left behind.”