Followed by panel discussion!!
(John Turner and Eric Christensen, USA, 2015, 78mins) In Hollywood there are many secrets, but only a few last a lifetime — now Korla’s can be revealed! As multifaceted as the sparkling jewel he wore on his turban, spiritual seeker Korla Pandit was a television pioneer and a godfather of the exotica music genre. From 1949, first in Los Angeles and subsequently in San Francisco, this self-described son of a Brahmin priest from New Delhi performed on TV daily while staring silently and dreamily into the camera.

In the 1950s he charmed American housewives, and decades later he would emerge as a cult figure while playing at clubs populated by Los Angeles tiki-lounge-loving hipsters. Often pegged as a “man of mystery,” Korla lived up to that billing when he took an amazing secret with him to his grave in 1998.

What lay behind Korla’s metaphysical musings, his cult status, and his Indian enigmatic facade? Find out in this fascinating and exotic tour through Pandit’s dizzying life.

Korla – Trailer from Appleberry Pictures on Vimeo.