Meeting the Beatles in India

Ever since 1982's The Compleat Beatles there have been countless straight-to-video productions about the biggest band of all time. Some have been officially endorsed by the remaining members but many others have not. Meeting the Beatles in India is more about Canadian producer/director Paul Saltzman than anything else, although the Beatles do play a big part in it. It's a look at a time when they were out of public view and allowed a relatively ordinary person to join them for a while.

The documentary begins as Saltzman's daughter uncovers a collection of photos featuring the Beatles that he had taken back in 1968 and eventually just forgot about. She convinces him to take another look at them now, leading him to make another trip back to India and make this documentary. He begins by telling us the backstory of how he came to take those pictures, told through a series of "graphic novel" drawings with partial animation. In 1968 living in Canada, he had a bit of an existential moment where he asked his soul what he should do to improve himself, and his soul answered that he should go to India. He ended up getting a job with a film crew that was shooting a movie there. He later received a letter from his girlfriend saying she had left him for someone else, which threw him into further chaos- it was suggested that he learn the art of meditation and spirituality to deal with this.

This leads him to visit an ashram (the equivalent of a monastery for Hindu religions) in the town of Rishikesh run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, regarded as an important figure in Beatles history. Saltzman asks to learn more but is told that the Beatles are visiting and is closed to the public. He decides to simply wait outside in a tent until he can be allowed in. After eight days it's decided that he has shown determination and he is let in, even as the Beatles, their wives, Mike Love from the Beach Boys, singer Donovan, and actress Mia Farrow are already there. He takes a stroll outside on the property and meets them all casually sitting at a table, where they welcome him as one of their own. From here he not only gets to join them in transcendental meditation, but also spend time in simple conversation and observe the Beatles coming up with a few songs while taking photos.

For this documentary he returns to that location more than 50 years after the fact, first stopping at The Beatles Story museum in their hometown of Liverpool, England. This is fascinating in itself for those of us who have never been there, as it has exhibits relating to every phase of the group's musical career. As he visits, they are preparing to display some of his photos. As he then heads to Rishikesh, he's met by others who provide their memories of the Beatles and Maharishi. The best moments here are insights into the backstories of some of the lesser-known Beatles songs. "Dear Prudence" for example is about Mia Farrow's sister who also visited the ashram, and "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" is about a real-life event that happened in Rishikesh where a friend of theirs killed a tiger for sport and later regretted it. (A side trip to Hawaii is made where we hear a few words from him; he says that he never used a gun after that and has only taken pictures of animals.)

There's even a surprise visit from director David Lynch, who wasn't directly involved in this story but gets a chance to tell the audience about how he discovered transcendental meditation after being a non-believer at first. Overall there are many remarkable stories about this part of Beatles history. Of course, one caveat is that we don't get to hear any of their actual music here. This is because obtaining music for use in a film often involves legal and financial complications. Instead, the soundtrack here is occupied by original music by Russell Walker and Craig Pruess. Much of it is traditional-style sitar music which George Harrison had become attracted to and incorporated on a few songs such as "The Inner Light."

Vital Disc Stats- The Blu-ray
Meeting the Beatles in India arrives on Blu-ray from Unobstructed View, packaged in a standard Blu-ray case with no insert. The non-Java disc opens with an animated menu that slightly delays access to its options.

The Blu-ray disc does justice to the mostly digitally-shot production. Colors seem to maintain a cooler tone, and all details get a chance to stand out- such as the rocks along the walkways in India and flowing water. The drawn/animated portions look great also, with brighter colors when these are featured. There are also a few archival clips of the Beatles and Maharishi, most appearing to be new HD transfers from 16mm film but zoomed to the 16x9 aspect ratio (a few of these clips seem to be from analog video sources.)

While there is no actual Beatles music here, the sitar music that accompanies most of the documentary fits in well and fills both the front and rear channels. On my Atmos setup, some of it even upmixed well to the height channels. There are also some nice ambient sounds of the water and wind. Music is kept out of the center channel, only the voices are heard from there.

On the bonus features front, there's about an hour of interviews that were left out of the final film. 

• 57 Minutes of Extra Scenes (HD) are interviews shot for the production but left out. Most of it has more to do with transcendental medidation than the Beatles, but there are some interesting stories that make a case for one pursuing it.
• Trailer (2 minutes, HD) is from a digital source and seems to have been made for online viewing, giving a general idea of what to expect.

I give this release a For Fans Only rating because more casual viewers may not be interested enough in this side-story on the Beatles, and none of their music is heard in it. If you are a fan, however, I do Recommend it. While obviously not authorized by the Beatles officially, it does show some film and still photos of them that haven't been seen before. It also gives plenty of interesting stories you may not have heard before, as well as backgrounds on some of their songs which you have likely already heard even if they aren't included here.