David Lynch to Make Documentary on Beatles’ Spiritual Guide Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
11/18/2009 By Alex Hudson

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is best known to the West as the Beatles' spiritual guide during their visit to India in 1968. Their trip was marred in controversy, however, with actress Mia Farrow accusing the Maharishi of making inappropriate sexual advances. Soon after, John Lennon wrote the song "Sexy Sadie" about the guru's alleged shenanigans, singing, "What have you done?/You made a fool of everyone." The Beatles later renounced these accusations, stating that the incident had been a misunderstanding.

Whatever it was that happened on that trip, perhaps David Lynch will get to the bottom of it. The filmmaker, whose credits include The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, is planning a documentary about the Maharishi, who founded transcendental mediation before dying in 2008. In an interview with New York Magazine, the director revealed, "It won’t be a so-called David Lynch film, really; it will be about Maharishi and the knowledge he brought out. It’ll hold a lot of abstractions."

The movie won't be a narrative, but it also won't be a traditional documentary, as Lynch stated, "I don’t think it’ll be a talking heads kind of thing."

In any case, Lynch and his crew are "going to do a lot of interviews with people," and are heading to India in hopes of speaking with some of the guru's followers. Filming is set to begin in December.

Lynch is no stranger to transcendental meditation, as in 2005 he founded the David Lynch Foundation, which aims to bring meditation into schools. Two of the organization's notable supporters are Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who performed together at a David Lynch Foundation fundraiser earlier this year.

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