The Beatles in film The Beatles in film The Beatles appeared in five motion pictures, most of which were very well received. The exception was the (mostly unscripted) television film "Magical Mystery Tour" which was panned by critics and the public alike. Each of their films had the same name as their associated soundtrack album and a song on that album. The Beatles had a successful film career, beginning with A Hard Day's Night (1964), a loosely scripted comic farce, sometimes compared to the Marx Brothers in style. A black-and-white film, it focused on Beatlemania and the band's hectic touring lifestyle and was directed
The Beatles in India through Apple Films. The idea gained traction once they got to the ashram, which led to their summoning Denis O'Dell to Rishikesh. Together with Aspinall, he flew to India intent on dissuading the Beatles from making the film. According to Cooke de Herrera, the Maharishi gave the Beatles and Apple the rights for a film about him, his movement and his teacher, Guru Dev. Joe Massot, who had directed "Wonderwall", said that Harrison phoned him from India inviting him to participate in the project. However, Charles Lutes, the head of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement in the US, had already arranged