Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest is set in Rajasthan and features Indian musicians (and a couple of foreign blokes)
The credits for Junun read: directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, in the languages English, Hindi, Hebrew and Urdu with English subtitles. Alas, Junun is not a new India-themed movie from the celebrated American director behind such modern classics as Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and The Master. Junun is a 54-minute documentary that will be premiered at the upcoming New York Film Festival.
Anderson records Radiohead lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s collaborations with Israeli composer and qawaali singer Shye Ben Tzur and a group of musicians in Jodhpur earlier this year. Greenwood has composed the scores for Anderson’s There Will be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice, and it is perfect that the filmmaker should be the one to record this latest musical encounter between West and East. Here is Greenwood and Ben-Tzur teaming up for a qawaali at the Southbank Centre in London last year.