Abacus secures global rights to “The Beatles and India”

Abacus Media Rights (AMR), an Amcomri Entertainment company, has secured distribution rights to The Beatles And India, a unique historical chronicle of the enduring love affair between The Beatles and India, which premieres at the BFI on 6^th June, for the closing night film of Tongues on Fire, producer of the UK Asian Film Festival.

The Beatles And India (1 x 96’) is produced by Reynold D’Silva, Founder and CEO of Silva Screen Music Group, an independent British music company.  Inspired by Ajoy Bose’s book Across the Universe, D’Silva has taken this amazing saga further by producing Bose’s directorial debut.  Bose and cultural researcher, co-director Pete Compton, have created an audio-visual presentation that stands apart from the many documentaries produced about the band, delving deep into the most crucial period of their evolution from the world’s most famous pop stars, into multi-faceted pioneering musical artists.  

With rare archival footage, an array of unseen recordings and photographs, eye-witness accounts and stunning location shoots across India, this extraordinary documentary brings alive the fascinating journey of George, John, Paul and Ringo, from their high-octane celebrity lives in the West, to a remote Himalayan ashram in search of spiritual bliss that inspired an unprecedented burst of creative song-writing.  It is the first serious exploration of how India shaped the development of the greatest ever rock band and their own pioneering role bridging two vastly different cultures.

The Beatles And India is produced by Renoir Pictures, a Silva Screen Company.  Both D’Silva and Compton are Executive Producers on Renoir Pictures’ documentary It Was Fifty Years Ago Today – The Beatles: Sgt Pepper & Beyond, marking the 50^thanniversary of the band’s album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, an album that not only changed the course of music, but went on to become one of the biggest selling records of all time.

Jonathan Ford, Managing Director at AMR comments, “So much has been told about the most famous band in the world over the years but this is a real find.  It is an extraordinary telling of a largely unknown series of events which had a massive impact on the Beatles’ future lives.  Offering a wide range of interviews with people who met the group on their trips to India, most with their stories unheard. From journalists to musicians to teenage girls, each has a unique tale to share.”