Farhan Akhtar makes his Hollywood debut, to play Ravi Shankar in Sam Mendes' The Beatles movies

Farhan Akhtar has been roped in to play Pandit Ravi Shankar, the legendary Indian musician who was a friend to The Beatles.

Updated on: Feb 13, 2026 8:23 AM IST

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Actor-director Farhan Akhtar is set for his grand Hollywood debut soon. He will be a part of Sam Mendes’ ambitious four-part biopic of the iconic band, The Beatles. Farhan will play Pandit Ravi Shankar, the eminent Indian classical musician who was a good friend of The Beatles and hosted them during their visit to India in the 70s.

Farhan Akhtar will play Pandit Ravi Shankar in Sam Mendes' The Beatles biopics.

Farhan Akhtar in The Beatles films

On Thursday, Sony Pictures shared a new casting announcement for The Beatles - A Four-Film Cinematic Event. It included Farhan, who was announced to be playing Ravi Shankar. In addition, the announcement shared that the film will also feature Lucy Boynton as Jane Asher, Paul McCartney’s fiancee, Morfydd Clark as Cynthia Powell, John Lennon’s first wife, and Harry Lawtey as Stuart Sutcliffe, the original drummer of The Beatles.

This will be Farhan’s first foray into international films. He has previously appeared in an American TV show, when he had a cameo in Ms Marvel, the Disney+ show released in 2022. Details about when Farhan will begin filming have not been shared.

All about The Beatles biopics

The Beatles is a four-part cinematic event that chronicles the lives of the four men who constituted the most popular and impactful pop band in history. Each of the four films is shot from the perspective of one of the Fab Four. The films star Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr.

The films also feature a strong supporting cast. Saoirse Ronan will play Linda McCartney, James Norton will appear as Brian Epstein, and Anna Sawai will portray Yoko Ono. Other cast members include Aimee Lou Wood as Pattie Boyd, Mia McKenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey, and Harry Lloyd as producer George Martin.

When the project was first announced, Mendes said he felt "honored" to tell the story of one of the greatest bands in music history and wanted to bring something new to the big-screen experience.

“I'm honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Mendes said in a statement.

The films are written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan, and Jack Thorne. Shooting is expected to be wrapped by the end of this year, followed by a long post-production schedule. The films are set to release worldwide in April 2028, with filming currently underway.

Directed by Sam Mendes, the films are produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Neal Street Productions, and Apple Corps.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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