George Harrison films a scene for Ravi Shankar’s Raga

George Harrison, accompanied by his wife Pattie, plus Ringo Starr, Maureen Starkey and Mal Evans, had travelled to California on 7 June 1968. The purpose of the visit was the filming of scenes for Ravi Shankar’s feature film Raga.

Harrison’s scenes were filmed on this and the following day, at a country retreat overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur. The first day involved Harrison being filmed learning a new raga from Shankar, and sitting on grass with a view of the ocean.

The scene was not rehearsed, and no dialogue was prepared. Harrison and Shankar spoke and played while cameras shot around 30 minutes of footage.

The party returned to England on 18 June.