Martin Scorsese films Harrison’s tryst with Indian spirituality

Oscar-winning American director Martin Scorsese, who has always been fascinated by rock ‘n’ roll stars, has finished shooting a documentary Living in the Material World: George Harrison, working in collaboration with the former Beatles’ widow, Olivia.

In 1966, George Harrison fell in love with India when he listened to an album of Ravi Shankar’s ragas. It struck a chord in him and the Beatles guitarist then started a passionate exploration of Indian music and spirituality that lasted till he died of lung cancer at 58. Led by Harrison, the Beatles made a journey to India in the 1960s where they wrote 48 songs in seven weeks while living in the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s quiet ashram in Rishikesh.

The pictures of the Beatles, the fashion leaders of the time, sitting cross-legged with the Maharishi, sparked a huge interest in Indian mysticism and meditation. Harrison’s widow initiated this film project because she says she had been approached by numerous production houses, including the BBC, looking to make a film about Harrison from the moment he died in 2001.

“This is a deeply personal journey for me, it’s been excruciating,” Olivia told the Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve been archiving for 35 years, really. Throwing (George’s) cassettes and letters in drawers, little things and pieces of paper that you find that say, ‘Goats on my roof.’ You think, What does that mean?”

Harrison fans are in for a treat as Olivia revealed that while digging through old letters, drawings, ideas and reveries, she came across a lost Harrison cassette from 1966 with music she had never heard.

“So that’s been wonderful, but emotional, too,” Olivia said. “But I feel really safe, I feel protected. Marty had a connection with George, and they spent time together. And he’s passionate about film and music as George was passionate about music and film.”
Scorsese said Harrison was always trying to find the balance between the physical and the spiritual, hence the film’s title. “This is undertaken, not casually,” Scorsese says. “It’s a great deal of reticence and thinking.”

According to Scorsese, the Harrison film uses never-before-seen footage in tracing the guitarist and songwriter’s life, from his days with the Beatles until his death. It includes interviews with some of Harrison’s closest friends including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Yoko Ono and Ravi Shankar who gave Harrison sitar lessons. A 2011 release is being eyed.