Farhan Akhtar to portray Ravi Shankar in Sam Mendes' 'The Beatles'
New Delhi (PTI): Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar is all set to play the role of sitar icon Ravi Shankar in filmmaker Sam Mendes' upcoming four-part movie saga on The Beatles, slated to release in theatres in April 2028.
Sony Pictures shared the news of Akhtar's casting with a post on its official X handle on Friday.
"New casting announced for 'The Beatles - A Four-Film Cinematic Event', directed by Sam Mendes. Farhan Akhtar will star as Ravi Shankar, Lucy Boynton will star as Jane Asher. Morfydd Clark will star as Cynthia (Powell) Lennon. Harry Lawtey will star as Stuart Sutcliffe. In cinemas April 2028. #TheBeatlesMovies," the studio posted.
Mendes, the director of critical hits like "American Beauty", "Road to Perdition", "Revolutionary Road", James Bond movies "Skyfall" and "Spectre", and "1917", has taken on the ambitious duty of directing the four-film series chronicling the legendary British band, with each movie told from the perspective of one of the Beatles members.
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The band was formed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in 1960 and is known for tracks such as "Hey Jude", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Yesterday", and "Penny Lane", among others. The band broke up in 1970.
In the film, Paul Mescal will feature as Paul McCartney, Harrison Dickinson as John Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
Ravi Shankar's music had influenced the Beatles, particularly Harrison, who learned Sitar from the Indian maestro. The band introduced Indian instruments in several of their songs including "Norwegian Wood", "Within You Without You " and "Love To You".
Shankar and Harrison remained friends till the very end and even collaborated together in a concert in the newly-independent Bangladesh on August 1, 1971.
Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the families of the late John Lennon and George Harrison have given the filmmaker the full life story and music rights for the upcoming films.
Boynton will play Jane Asher, McCartney's ex-girlfriend, Clark will star as Cynthia Powell, who was married to Lennon for four years.
Lawtey will star as Stuart Sutcliffe, the band’s bass guitarist, often referred to as the “fifth Beatle”. He later left the group to study art at Hamburg College of Art, but died suddenly at the age of 21 after complaining of a severe headache during class; the cause was later determined to be a brain haemorrhage.
Akhtar was most recently seen in the war drama "120 Bahadur". In the west, the actor played a small part in Marvel Studios' series "Ms. Marvel".
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Man held for cheating IT official by posing as 'parrot astrologer'
Bengaluru (PTI): A 59-year-old man was arrested for allegedly duping an Income Tax department official by posing as a "parrot astrologer" and promising career growth and better life through rituals, police said on Wednesday.
With the arrest of the accused astrologer Shekar, police claimed to have recovered gold ornaments weighing 124 grams and silver articles weighing 796 grams, with a total value of Rs 20.60 lakh.
The matter came to light after the victim, who is a senior administrative officer in the Income Tax department, lodged a complaint at Bharatinagar police station here on March 5, police said.
According to police, in the complaint, the victim stated that while passing near Sri Circle, he was approached by a person claiming to practise parrot astrology. The accused called him over, claimed he could predict the future by looking at his face, and convinced him to perform a ritual.
Initially, the accused collected Rs 50,000 from the complainant. Later, he allegedly told the victim that an elaborate ritual was necessary for career promotion, transfer, and overall improvement in life, and threatened that failure to do so would bring misfortune, he alleged.
"Under this pretext, the accused took 194 grams of gold ornaments and 1.3 kg of silver articles from the complainant, assuring they would be returned after the ritual," police said.
When the complainant later demanded the return of the valuables, the accused allegedly threatened him, they said.
During the investigation, police gathered credible information and apprehended the accused near Cantonment Railway Station on March 12 and upon interrogation, he confessed to committing the offence with the intention of making quick money, a senior police officer said.
He was produced before a court on March 13 and taken into police custody for five days.
During sustained questioning, the accused revealed that he had sold the stolen gold and silver items at a jewellery shop in Halasuru. Based on his information, police recovered 124 grams of gold ornaments and 796 grams of silver articles from the shop on March 15, valued at Rs 20.60 lakh, the officer said.
The accused was again produced before the court on March 17 and was remanded to judicial custody, he added.
