This week in movies you missed: How hard is it to set yourself up as a guru? Relatively easy, this documentary reveals.
NOTE: Right now, I’m in an indecisive zone when it comes to obtaining Movies You Missed. While I decide whether to commit to a separate Netflix discs plan, I’ll be doing this the cheapskate way, watching stuff that’s available on Instant. Such as this 2011 flick from director Vikram Gandhi, which played at last March’s Green Mountain Film Festival but never in the Burlington area.
What You Missed
Gandhi is a third-generation Indian American who grew up in New Jersey. His parents schooled him in Hinduism, but he was skeptical of religion from an early age. And, he says, every encounter with a guru, whether in the U.S. or in India, just made him more suspicious. Sure, these self-styled holy men were charismatic, but what made others follow them? Were they really giving any spiritual sustenance their followers couldn’t give themselves?
To find out, Gandhi devised a Morgan Spurlock-style stunt: He would be a guru. And, of course, film the process. (Watch him on Colbert here.)
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
