Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (August 29, 2024)
When George Harrison became interested in the music and spiritual ways of India, that meant the other three Beatles found themselves involved as well. In particular, Harrison found himself drawn to the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his system of “Transcendental Meditation”.
All four briefly attended the Maharishi’s seminar in Wales circa August 1967. However, when band manager Brian Epstein died, they cut short this visit.
In February 1968, the four Fabs would head to Asia for a longer audience with the Maharishi. This occasion becomes the focus of a 2020 documentary entitled Meeting the Beatles in India.
Expect a fairly standard format that mixes archival footage and a variety of interview clips. We hear from George Harrison’s ex-wife Pattie Boyd, Pattie’s sister Jenny, historian Mark Lewisohn, filmmaker David Lynch, journalists Lewis Lapham and Raju Gusain, composer Laurence Rosenthal, TM teacher Raja Richard Ross, Sotheby’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Memorabilia Expert Stephen Maycock, author Siddharth Bhatia, musicians Suresh Bhojwani and Hariprasad Chaurasia, “Beatles Story” marketing manager Diane Glover, digital artist Jodi Lascar, song subject Rikki “Bungalow Bill” Cooke, and Saltzman’s daughter Devyani.
When I went into the film, I assumed its title acted as a play on the band’s legendary US release Meet the Beatles. Undeniably, that moniker does wink at the connection.
However, in this case, it also proves as an accurate description of the flick’s hook. Writer/director Paul Saltzman indeed met the Beatles during this February 1968 visit.
23 at the time, Saltzman went on his own spiritual journey to India. Along the way, he got to know the Beatles and he documented the visit with photos.
Meeting offers a scattered focus. Much of it explores Saltzman’s own memories and personal journey, but it also attempts to offer some history of the Beatles’ time in Rishikesh.
Though ostensibly narrated by Morgan Freeman, that famed actor only pops up sporadically, mainly to frame the project. Most of the voiceover we get comes from Saltzman himself.
Which makes some sense since Meeting deals so often with his experiences. However, this means Freeman’s presence feel more like a gimmick than anything necessary.
At its core, Meeting does offer an awfully cool story. The notion that some ordinary dude got to hang out for a week with the Beatles in an exceptionally casual setting seems utterly remarkable and creates massive envy for millions of fans.
When Meeting sticks with Saltzman’s recollections, it does pretty well. Of course, I admit I take some of this with a grain of salt, as we get little outside confirmation of his statements.
No, this doesn’t mean I feel Saltzman fabricated his stories, and perhaps he remembers everything accurately. Nonetheless, with more than 50 years since the events occurred, memories get spotty and without confirmation from other participants, I can’t help but wonder how much of what we hear actually happened and how much stems from faulty recollections.
Meeting actually offers a short “argument” between Saltzman and Lewisohn. Saltzman relates that he was told the Beatles wrote 48 songs during their stay in India, whereas Lewisohn states they came back with 30 tunes.
Arguably the world’s foremost Beatles historian, I go with Lewisohn. As the saying goes, Lewisohn has forgotten more about the Beatles than most of us ever knew, so I lean in his direction.
Anyway, however accurate Saltzman’s memories may be, it becomes interesting to hear his tales. He definitely brings a fine collection of photos he took during his trip.
My biggest complaint here stems from the scattered focus of Meeting. Anyone who enters the film assumes it will primarily document the Beatles’ time in Rishikesh, but that domain only plays a moderate part.
Really, the flick splits into three areas. We learn about Saltxman’s personal journey, the Beatles’ stint in India, and TM itself.
That last domain feels superfluous, honestly. Yes, I get that the Beatles visited Rishikesh to partake in meditation, but the movie mainly discusses that practice in a promotional way.
In other words, we hear a lot about the supposed benefits of TM but we don’t get real insights related to it. Long-time adherent Lynch appears here solely to promote TM, so his segments could get cut without any damage to the film.
The segments that cover Saltxman’s experiences work fine, as do the more distinct details of Beatles history. However, the two don’t always connect smoothly.
Some good elements appear, such as when Saltxman and Lewisohn visit India. And as noted, Saltzman’s stories become interesting, even if not especially revealing.
As noted, Saltzman enjoyed a fan’s fantasy: a week in close contact with the Beatles, and a version of the Beatles with their guard down. From that, we get some enjoyable tales but nothing that seems revelatory.
We also really don’t get that many good anecdotes, which might be why Meeting pads out its brief running time with so much other material. A version of the film that primarily covers Saltzman’s experiences with the Beatles simply wouldn’t offer more than maybe 20 minutes of screen time, and that would include his personal journey.
This means Meeting tends to feel padded, and as mentioned, the various pieces don’t flow especially smoothly. The film flits from each of the three primary domains awkwardly and doesn’t come together in a particularly coherent manner.
All of this makes me sound much more down on Meeting than I am. Even with its flaws, it offers a breezy 79 minutes.
Still, I can’t help but feel disappointed, as Meeting doesn’t click as often as I’d like. It kicks to life at times but lacks consistency.
