Farhan Akhtar In Sam Mendes' Beatles Film, Plays Ravi Shankar

'The closure of Don 3 was the best thing to happen to Farhan. If he was committed to directing Don, he wouldn't have been able to take on Pandit Ravi Shankar's role in The Beatles film.'

Farhan Akhtar has bagged his first Hollywood project, directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Skyfall, Road To Perdition) no less.

He will play Pandit Ravi Shankar in the four film biopic series on The Beatles, which also stars British actress Lucy Boynton as actress-author Jane Asher (who was Paul McCartney's then girlfriend), British actress Morfydd Clark as actress-author Cynthia (Powell) Lennon (John Lenon's first wife) and British actor Harry Lawtey as painter-musician Stuart Sutcliffe (the original bass guitarist of the Beatles).

The lead cast includes Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney), Joseph Quinn (George Harrison), and Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr) along with Saoirse Ronan, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mia McKenna-Bruce and Aimee Lou Wood.

'Farhan was zapped'

While Farhan is not allowed to speak about it, a close friend tells Subhash K Jha, "Farhan is no stranger to play known figures. He has played Milkha Singh. But when Sam Mendes' offer to play Pandit Ravi Shankar in a biopic on the Beatles came Farhan's way, he was zapped. He isn't taking the honour lightly."

Farhan has already started learning the sitar.

Right now, Farhan will focus on his acting career. After the Beatles film, he will act in his sister Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara 2.

Those eager to see Farhan return to direction will have to wait for at least two more years.

A source close to Farhan can't stop marveling at karma: "The closure of Don 3 was the best thing to happen to Farhan. If he was committed to directing Don, he wouldn't have been able to take on Pandit Ravi Shankar's role in The Beatles film."

• Also Read: Stunning unseen pictures of the Beatles in India!

Ravi Shankar's Beatles' connection

Ravi Shankar had a profound influence on the Beatles, especially George Harrison, introducing them Indian classical music and spiritual philosophy. He also taught Harrison the sitar, when the latter visited India.

On The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the sitar is prominently featured on Harrison's composition Within You Without You.

'Within You Without You came about after I had spent a bit of time in India and fallen under the spell of the country and its music. Within You Without You was a song that I wrote based upon a piece of music of Ravi's that he'd recorded for All India Radio,' Harrison said about the making of the song. Read more about it here.

Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff