Welcome to the Virtual Cinema House, a program of RCA @ Home.
Join us as we bring you exclusive access to first run and award-winning documentaries, not available on any other platform or media in Canada.
The Virtual Cinema House offers new documentary releases each week. For less than $10 per film, you can watch your selected films for up to 5 days.
The following film is available beginning September 18, 2020.
Meeting the Beatles in India
In 1968, with the eyes of the world upon them, The Beatles traveled to Rishikesh, India, to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in a remote ashram on the banks of the sacred river Ganges.
Also present at the ashram during those few short weeks was a young Canadian filmmaker named Paul Saltzman, there to heal a recently broken heart, while seeking his own path to understanding and enlightenment. Arriving without knowing the Beatles were there, he had to wait outside the gates for 8 days. Finally, allowed in, he was taught meditation. It took less than 5 minutes, and his first 30-minute meditation was ‘a miracle’ that healed the agony of his heartbreak.
He soon met John, Paul, George and Ringo, who took him into their informal group of the four of them; their partners, Pattie Boyd, Cynthia Lennon, Maureen Starkey and Paul’s girlfriend, Jane Asher. Also, in the group were Mia Farrow, Donovan, Mike Love and the Beatle’s roadie, Mal Evans.
Narrated by Morgan Freeman, Saltzman weaves together archival material, including some stills and film footage never before seen by the public; along with interviews with long-time practitioner of transcendental meditation, film director David Lynch; Pattie Boyd; Jenny Boyd; pre-eminent Beatles historian, Mark Lewisohn; Lewis Lapham; film composer Laurence Rosenthal, Hariprasad Chaurasia; and the real ‘Bungalow Bill’.
Along with his own personal memories, Saltzman creates a magical mystery tour of one of the most important and influential cultural events of the 20th century, and reveals how vital the exploration of our own inner self is, not only for artists of all generations but also for each and every one of us.
Director: Paul Saltzman
Year: 2020
Runtime: 82 minutes
Country: Australia