Various Artistes/ The Beatles And India

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR

Various Artistes: Music Inspired By The Film The Beatles And India

Label: Silva Screen Records

Rating: Up To You

Reviewing an album like this is extremely difficult. The simple reason is that it takes Beatles songs many of us have grown up on, and gives them an Indian flavour. Some may welcome the experimentation, others may detest it. Some versions may work for some, others may not work for others. Half the people may agree with this review, others may hurl tomatoes at me, irrespective of their current high price.

Whichever way, improvising on (or tampering with) Beatles songs is always a challenging task, moreso when you've focused on the sacrosanct The White Album, which thousands consider as one of the ultimate releases by the Liverpool lads. And instead of hearing the voices of John, Paul, George or even Ringo, we hear people who sounded better off singing at the erstwhile Blue Frog or Hard Rock Cafe Worli.

So welcome to Music Inspired By The Film The Beatles And India, with a bouquet in one hand and a boxing glove in the other. Just to keep you updated, this is a new documentary based on the Beatles visit to Rishikesh in 1968. And the music doesn't stick to The White Album, but targets some of the John Lennon solos he wrote later. Oh-no!

The performers include a range of Indian vocalists, from Vishal Dadlani and Benny Dayal to Farhan Akhtar and Siddharth Basrur to Nikhil D'Souza and Monica Dogra. Sitar exponent Anoushka Shankar, percussionist Karsh Kale, guitarist Warren Mendonsa and some raag Pahadi-blowing flautist join the party. If you add up the social media friend lists of all the featured musicians, you're in for a few hundred million streams. Maybe that was the idea.

As we said before, reactions to this album will be based on individual perception. I'm certainly not in a mood to pick up a fist fight with someone who thinks Dadlani messed up 'Revolution', which I personally loved, or someone who is raving about Raaga Trippin's 'Bungalow Bill' which sounded more like 'Bhatinda Babu' to me. Nor do I feel like arguing why I loved some of the instrumental passages with those who claim to know more about the group than McCartney himself. When it comes to the Beatles, many people think they're Jai Guru Deva!

Since I will bump into most of these Mumbai-based musicians now that things are easing up, I'd rather pretend to be nice. I won't say much, except that we get to hear new versions of songs like 'Back In The USSR', 'Dear Prudence, 'Sexy Sadie', 'Mother Nature's Son', 'Across The Universe' and 'I Will'. It's up to listeners to decide whether to use the bouquet or the boxing glove.

My biggest relief was that 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and 'Blackbird' were left alone. Likewise, my biggest disappointment was that they didn't attempt 'Revolution 9' - no matter what they'd done, it would have been far better than the original.

Let me conclude by wishing everyone a happy weekend. I've got my plan ready - I will get back into my millionth listening of the Beatles White Album, and pick four tracks from this compilation, which I won't mention. And yes, I'll definitely look forward to the film. Life goes on, blaa, la la, how the life goes on.