Michael York stars as disaffected British rock star Tom Pickle (a thinly disguised George Harrison perchance) who travels to India looking to learn the sitar.
Rita Tushingham delivers a sublime performance as Jenny, the Mia Farrow-like hippie waif who is in India seeking spiritual enlightenment and who falls for Pickle in between his sitar sessions.
Ustal Zafar Khan (Utpal Dutt) is the Bengal master musician and religious teacher who casts his spell over both of them. The Guru has two wives – Begum Sahiba (Madhur Jaffrey) who is the mother of his four daughters, and Ghazala (Aparna Sen), his pretty, young and modern-minded wife. Each is jealous of the other.
Barry Foster plays Pickle’s brash mod manager, Chris, who arrives halfway through the film to try and lure his star back to engagements in Europe.
It’s an intelligent satire on the mid-60s trend of dissatisfied western pop stars jetting in to the Indian sub-continent for a quick dose of spiritual enlightenment – coupled with tuition on an exotic Asian stringed instrument.
Tom Pickle
Michael York
Jenny
Rita Tushingham
Ustal Zafar Khan
Utpal Dutt
Begum Sahiba
Madhur Jaffrey
Chris
Barry Foster
Ghazala
Aparna Sen
Mastani
Zohra Sehgal
Murad
Saeed Jaffrey
The Guru’s Guru
Nana Palsikar
Courtesan
Nadira
Girl at the Party
Leela Naidu
Lady Reporter
Usha Katrah
Howard
Fred Ohringer
Director
James Ivory