I had just finished watching “Kumaré” at Ebertfest, this quasi-documentary in which the director, Vikram Gandhi, poses as an Indian guru and dupes a small flock of disciples into believing he’s the real deal. Surely these people were the butt of the joke for believing him, and surely he must’ve felt pretty good about making this point about phony prophets.
But then Gandhi came out on stage and discussed the film. In his presence, the message of the movie had more weight and intellectual clarity. It wasn’t a mockumentary, and it wasn’t a slam on religion. “Kumaré” was a film about belief, not God, and not even Atheism. Then Gandhi did something curious: he donned his fake Indian accent that transformed him to Kumaré, and he led the audience of 1500 people in his fake chant and meditation ritual.
Having just seen the movie and met the man, I knew it was fake, the audience knew it was fake, and yet in that moment with all those people, I had a miniature moment of spiritual enlightenment. It felt real and meaningful enough to me, and that’s the whole point. Continue reading “Kumaré”