Paul Saltzman is a Canadian based international award-winning film director, writer, and producer of over three hundred dramas and documentaries.
In 1968, at the age of 23, he traveled to India for the first time as a sound engineer for a National Film Board documentary. Trying to find a way to recover after his girlfriend broke up with him (by mail), he ventured to the holy city of Rishikesh, at the foothills of the Himalayas, in the hopes of studying meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Coincidentally, the Beatles were there on their own meditation retreat and welcomed Saltzman into their inner circle. While there, he photographed the Beatles and their entourage, which included Donovan, Mia and Prudence Farrow, and the Beach Boys’s Mike Love.
The Inner Light: The Beatles in India includes photographs that have been judged "some of the best intimate shots" ever taken of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. A documentary of Saltzman’s experience, “Meeting The Beatles in India” (Gathr Films), was released in 2020. Saltzman’s iconic photos will be on exhibit in The Carlton Room Gallery at The Betsy during the 2020/21 season.
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Rishikesh, India,1968. The Beatles opened a door in my psyche. It was a key moment in my life. John was singing Tomorrow Never Knows, and as the lyrics sank in, I knew they were telling me of a journey I had not yet made—of an internal place that held great love and knowing. I love this picture for John’s intensity, a hallmark of his immense talent.
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Rishikesh India, 1968. It was quite clear as I spent time with George and Pattie that they were very close as a couple and very calm and at ease with each other. Some marriages endure and some don’t, and I was sorry to later hear that they were breaking-up.
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Rishikesh India, 1968. Rishikesh is on the Ganges river, 1,220 feet up in the foothills of the magnificent Himalayan mountains. Here I wanted to visually connect the foothills, Rishikesh on the far side of the Ganges, and two temples in the foreground, taken from the roof of one of the temples.
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Rishikesh India, 1968. Donovan’s friends, Gypsy Dave and his sweetheart, Yvonne, came to the ashram for a few days to visit Donovan. John and Paul were just finishing playing and we all headed off for dinner.
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Rishikesh, India,1968. I went in search of John, Paul and George and found them sitting at the familiar spot overlooking the river where we’d first met. We said our good-byes and as I started to go John said, “Hey, Paul, send us some of your photos."
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. The old boatman took me across the Ganges river as I went looking for the Maharishi’s ashram, to learn meditation. I didn’t know the Beatles were even in India. The local women bathe and wash their clothes on the ghats, or steps that lead into the river.
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. George was quiet and self-contained, yet with a depth and a humour that was genuine and delightful. He had true humility. Here, he’s just cracked a joke.
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. John and Paul were strumming their D-28 Martin acoustic guitars, singing fragments of songs, musically meandering through some of my favorites: Michelle, All You Need is Love, Eleanor Rigby, and others. I got my camera and after taking a few pictures through the chain link fence, I opened the gate and joined them.
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. John and Paul were singing a variety of songs that I recognized as I sat with them. After snapping the first frame, ‘Jamming’, John began to smile at me. Pulling the focus to Paul was my way to balance the emphasis between these two superstars.
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. John and Cynthia were both bright and friendly with me but distinctly distant and cool with each other. It turned out that Cynthia was hoping to get their marriage back on track while John had already met Yoko and was headed in another direction.
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. I first saw John, Paul, George and Ringo sitting outside at a long table by the edge of the cliff that overlooked the Ganges and Rishikesh. Somewhat nervously, I walked over. “May I join you?” I asked. “Sure, mate, pull up a chair.” And Paul said, pointing beside him, “Come and sit here.” Taken later, I named this for Paul playing with his baby finger.
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. Ringo asked me to shoot some film for him using his 16mm camera. When I finished, he handed me a fresh roll of film. “Here Paul, shoot this for yourself and keep it, for the fun of it.” Then he playfully added, in his wonderful Liverpudlian accent, “And who knows, it might be worth some money one day.”
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. “Yeah, and love can be pretty tough on us, can’t it? John said. We sat quietly together, a moment suspended in time. Then he smiled, almost mischievously , “But the great thing about love, Paul, is you always get another chance.” “For sure,” I said. We were silent again, and after awhile John said, “Off to write me music, then.”
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Rishikesh, India,1968. Ringo was calm, quiet, almost motionless as I took this. Of the four Beatles, he appeared the most serene, the most grounded, the most at ease with who he was. I find Ringo’s gentle shyness endearingly revealed in this photograph.
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. Paul was looking down at words he had scribbled on a scrap of paper, sitting one step below, as he and John started to sing. It was the refrain to Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. They repeated it again and again, and then Paul looked up at me with a twinkle in his eyes and said, “That’s all there is so far. We don’t have any of the words yet.”
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Rishikesh, India, 1968. I’ll always love the Beatles. Not just for their music, and the joy and love they transmitted, encouraged, and heralded, but also, as individuals I had the good fortune to meet and like and enjoy. Thank you John, Paul, George and Ringo.
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