SOMETIMES I WONDER: in between all the bickering, the jealousies, the drugs, the Transcendental Meditation, the travelling, the hubris, the philandering, when the hell did The Beatles find the time to actually write all that music? It’s odd how massive a cultural phenomenon they remain even today. Their stories, their lives, their ‘phases’ have taken on a Shakespearean depth. In Across The Universe, Ajoy Bose tackles one of those many phases: the drug-fuelled pop-philosophy period of their career, following which their search for enlightenment brought them to Rishikesh, under the tutelage of the controversial Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Bose structures the narrative chronologically, introducing the many kooky characters that entered the lives of The Beatles between 1965 and 1968. It begins with George Harrison on the sets of The Beatles film…