New York Times (June 1, 2012)
IN his early 20s Vikram Gandhi, a fledgling Indian-American filmmaker
from New Jersey, decided to make a documentary about the yoga industry
in the United States, focusing on its offshoot, the guru.
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Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Vikram Gandhi
Then he decided to become one himself.
The result was “Kumaré,” named for Mr. Gandhi’s alter ego, a yoga
teacher from Aali’kash, a fictional place in the shadow of the
Himalayas, who carries a trident and imparts his wisdom on some
unsuspecting spiritual seekers in Arizona. The lesson, to those willing
to listen closely: The only guru you need is the one inside you.
Mr. Gandhi said the inevitable comparisons of “Kumaré,” his first
full-length movie (which opens June 20 in New York), with Sacha Baron
Cohen’s “Borat” didn’t bother him. Mr. Gandhi, now 33 and a resident of
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said he had already begun his transformation
before that film came out — and besides, his documentary is 100 percent
unscripted. In a recent interview with Kathryn Shattuck, for which he
traded his character’s flowing attire for an untucked white shirt and
jeans (he kept the beard), Mr. Gandhi spoke about his spiritual path
and pretending to be what he was not. These are excerpts from their
conversation.
Q. How did what began as a yoga documentary become “Kumaré”?
A. I was meeting tons of different spiritual leaders and teachers, and
I’d be saying: “This person is just making something up. Why does
everyone else think this is legitimate?” What I saw made me think:
“What if I pretended to be one of these people? Wouldn’t that show
something about the nature of why people are grasping onto things,
especially if I’m going to be saying that what I’m teaching is not real
and it’s kind of nonsense?”
Q. How did you progress?
A. I made up a name. My middle name is Kumar, so I put an “é” at the
end.
Q. What about the yoga poses?
A. Anyone nowadays who thinks that they know what authentic yoga asanas
are is full of it. India has a lot of scriptures, but it doesn’t have
tons of diagrams of all these scorpion poses. Q. What was Kumaré’s
appeal?
A. Kumaré is not based on a character in India; he’s based on a
character in mythology. And even though people saw this man who looked
like he was from another planet, he was super relatable — because he’s
just me. You imagine this man to be talking on a much higher level, but
in fact Kumaré was the simple straight man in every scene. No great
wisdom. He was always saying, “You have the answer.”
Q. Did you ever break character?
A. There’s a smile that Kumaré has and a laugh like some old Indian
people I’ve seen who laugh without making a sound. It was like the
masked laughter on top of my own laughter. I told people that the
translation of my name, Kumaré, meant “divine child.” I’m a child
trapped inside this big man who has a trident and a picnic basket.
Q. After gaining the trust of these people, did you feel responsible
for hurt feelings once you revealed yourself?
A. I was prepared mentally for everything. I already knew that there
was no movie without the unveiling. I needed to display the mechanism
of the guru and the mechanism of faith. And then laying all the cards
on the table and telling them: “You’re making changes in your life, and
you don’t need me because I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know
anything at all.”
Q. Has Kumaré appeared again since the movie?
A. I went to New York Fashion Week [as Kumaré]. Of course everyone at
Lincoln Center was going, “I’m sorry, what is this? [Circles hand and
points at imaginary clothing.] This is amazing.” And I’m barefoot,
carrying a trident.
The next thing you know, someone has put a picture of me on the front
of The Hindustan Times entertainment section with a caption that says,
“Swami steals the show at New York Fashion Week.
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