British Airways Theme Tune - Lakme

The director Tony Scott had been introduced to this duet for two sopranos by Howard, who then recorded it with his own orchestra for Tony’s feature film ‘The Hunger’ in 1982. The song comes from the opera ‘Lakme’ by Leo Delibes (1883) and is called ‘Viens Mallika’.

Two years later Tony asked Howard if the track could be adapted for a TV commercial for British Airways (titled ‘Wider Seats’). He used the same sopranos and orchestra but adapted it to fit the film. Innumerable re-arrangements followed over a period of more than 20 years.Simon Laurie who edited the film in 1984 describes the film:  ”The ad featured  a wider seat being lowered into a roofless plane. Unfortunately when the lid is replaced a small bird is trapped inside, The roof is then raised to let the bird escape because British Airways is “the airline that cares about everyone that flies.”