Lord of the Universe
| Lord of the Universe | |
|---|---|
1991 VHS edition | |
| Directed by |
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| Produced by |
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| Edited by |
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Production company | Top Value Television |
| Distributed by | PBS |
Release dates | |
Running time | 58 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$30,000 |
Lord of the Universe is a 1974 American documentary film about Prem Rawat (at the time known as Guru Maharaj Ji) at an event in November 1973 at the Houston Astrodome called "Millennium '73". Lord of the Universe was first broadcast on PBS on February 2, 1974, and released in VHS format on November 1, 1991. The documentary chronicles Maharaj Ji, his followers and anti-Vietnam War activist Rennie Davis who was a spokesperson of the Divine Light Mission at the time. A counterpoint is presented by Davis' Chicago Seven co-defendant Abbie Hoffman, who appears as a commentator. It includes interviews with several individuals, including followers, ex-followers, a mahatma, a born-again Christian, and a follower of Hare Krishna.
The production team of Top Value Television produced the documentary, using Portapak video cameras. The TVTV team followed Maharaj Ji across the United States over a period of six weeks, and edited a large amount of tape down to the fifty-eight-minute piece. It was the first documentary made on 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) video tape broadcast nationally, and also the first independent video documentary shown on national public television.