In 1971, George Harrison and Apple Films released Raga: A Film Journey Into The Soul Of India. Directed by Howard Worth and produced by Pandit Ravi Shankar, the film documents the life of the sitar maestro in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Narrated by Shankar himself, the film is a chronicle of his musical journey: a visit with guru and famed Bengali multi-instrumentalist Ustad Allauddin Khan, his travels across Europe and the United States, and his collaborations with Yehudi Menuhin and more famously, George Harrison.
Raga was re-released last year on the Ravi Shankar Foundation’s label with re-mastered audio and video tracks. When asked about the decision to re-release the film, the maestro replied, “Music is the soul of India and it has always been my life as well. Many might ask, why re-release Raga now? The answer is simple: it was a very special period of my life.” It was also a special period for popular culture and music as a whole. Sadly, the film remains relatively obscure; find it on Amazon here.
Check out the trailer for the movie below.
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