SSRF's Protest against 'The Love Guru'

Hindus get support on ‘The Love Guru’ issue in America

April 4, 2008

Is Mike Myers' new film asking for trouble?

This news is posted here only to give information to Hindus as to how people belonging to other faiths denigrate Hindus symbols of faith and later cleverly state that they did not intend to hurt anybody’s religious sentiments. From this example Hindus should note the efforts of Christians, Muslims, Communists and other anti-Hindus to target Hindu Dharma at large. Hindus should stand united against such forces. - Editor

Los Angeles, California (AP) - As the people of Kazakhstan know all too well, mockery of culture and religion seems to be kosher in Hollywood, under the following conditions: Mike Myers plays the Guru Pitka in "The Love Guru," out this summer. The humor must be so over-the-top, so beyond reality, that it could never be misconstrued as mean-spirited. That, and the targeted groups cannot be large enough, loud enough or organized enough so that their hurt feelings make an impact at the box office.

Just ask Borat. Though Kazakhs complained that their country and customs were grossly misrepresented in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," the film was a $128 million domestic success among the top-grossing films of 2006.

In the context of Sacha Baron Cohen's uncomfortable in-character interactions with unwitting Americans, Mike Myers' parody of another cultural minority in the U.S. as the oversexed, overly ambitious, American-born spiritual leader in the summer comedy "The Love Guru" would hardly seem cause for complaint.

Myers' character is an amalgamation of Eastern-style spiritual movements, never making reference to any particular religion. And yet the Guru Pitka billed as "the second best guru in India" draws a distinct picture.

He wears long hair, a long beard and a flowing caftan. "Prepare to get your enlightenment freak on," Pitka tells visitors to his MySpace page, where he blends real information such as the Sanskrit origins of the word "guru" with silliness, including impossible yoga poses that would require elastic limbs. He plays sappy pop songs on the sitar. His mantra is "Mariska Hargitay."

Pitka identifies himself as "a spiritual teacher affiliated with no one faith" and has the same crass-and-goofy charm as Myers' Austin Powers and "Wayne's World" characters. And the movie's plot he heads West when he's offered $2 million to heal a hockey star's romance so the team can win the Stanley Cup is harmless enough. Still, weeks before the movie is even ready for screening, some in the Hindu community feel that "The Love Guru" has the potential to ridicule important elements of their religion.

Rajan Zed, a self-described Hindu leader from Nevada, demanded that Paramount Pictures screen the film for members of the Hindu community before it is released in June. Based on the movie's trailer and MySpace page, Zed says "The Love Guru" "appears to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus" and uses sacred terms frivolously.

"People are not very well-versed in Hinduism, so this might be their only exposure," he told The Associated Press. "They will have an image in their minds of stereotypes. They will think most of us are like that." Paramount, which has screened sensitive films for select audiences in the past, said early screenings would be held for the Hindu community.

" 'Love Guru,' which is not yet complete, is a satire created in the same spirit as Austin Powers," Paramount said in a statement, noting that the film features spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra and Hindu actor Manu Narayan. "It is our full intention to screen the film for Rajan Zed and other Hindu leaders once it is ready."

Myers, who declined to be interviewed for this story, says in an episode of the Sundance Channel's "Iconoclasts" that Chopra, his longtime friend, was the inspiration for the Love Guru character. "He is the basis of why I went down this path of a character like that, and it's because I am interested in higher states of consciousness and I am interested in comedy," Myers says. "The guru, he breaks down your barriers, gets you silly and gets you light so you're in a place to receive love."

But religious communities rarely take well to faith-themed comedies, said Diane Winston, a professor of media and religion at the University of Southern California. "To be funny, you have to get in people's faces and disturb their complacent perspectives," she said. "Religious groups have tended to be very concerned about their portrayal in the media, especially the entertainment media. Often ... in comedies, it's a very broad representation which they perceive as offensive. It's the nature of stereotype."

Her take on "The Love Guru" trailer and Web site? Rather than a spoof of Eastern religion, it seems more of a satire of American culture's tendency toward materialism, promiscuity and quick spiritual fixes told through a pseudo religious figure. "The character didn't have to be a guru. He could just as well have been a rabbi, minister, priest or imam," she said. "These are problems within the culture at large. "Hindus were a fresh target," she continued. "Jews and Christians have been parodied before so perhaps Myers thought this was a different take on a familiar comedy routine."

Myers' publicist, Ina Treciokas, declined to comment for this story. A Hindu nun at the Vedanta Society of Southern California, who asked not to be named because she felt it was not appropriate to seem like she was speaking for the faith, said secular and religious culture are "fused" in India, which could give rise to sensitivity if it appears sacred customs are being ridiculed.

"A good satire should pinch a bit," she said. "To gauge the movie on two minutes is impossible. But I can see, after having seen two minutes, that people who are sensitive would want to see more." Just as most viewers of "Borat" know that the character's over-the-top antics have little to do with the reality in Kazakhstan, Myers' Guru Pitka is similarly silly and has nothing explicitly to do with Hinduism. Still, the film was inspired by Myers' real spiritual quest, which began after his father's death in 1991.

Paramount officials point out that "The Love Guru" is "non-denominational comedy that celebrates spirituality and that the character has his own fictional belief system." For all its sight gags and goofy jokes, the film is about three things, Myers says: "It's about fate versus choice ... it's about self love and the third part of it is that internal validation trumps external validation."

Source: www.cnn.com

Hindu leaders are up in arms over 'The Love Guru'

Love Guru woos Hindu priests in sneak peek

The Love Guru to be screened for US Hindu leaders

USA: After The Love Guru, billed as the biggest Hollywood comedy this summer, raised the hackles of Indians for allegedly belittling Hinduism, Paramount Pictures has agreed to screen the film for Hindu leaders once it is completed.

The film is by Mike Myers of Austin Powers fame, and has a cameo by New Age guru Deepak Chopra. It revolves around an American raised in an Indian ashram who returns home as a saffron-robed, hirsute, self-help guru named Pitka with a knack for solving celebrities' romantic problems.

"It appeared to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus and using Hindu terms frivolously," Rajan Zed, the Nevada-based president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said after watching the film's trailer.

Zed, who delivered the first Hindu opening prayer in the US Senate in Washington last year, demanded Paramount pre-screen the film for Hindu representatives. He cited the precedent of Mel Gibson getting the controversial "The Passion of Jesus Christ" cleared from Jews and Christians in 2004.

Paramount's publicist Jessica Rovins, in a message Sunday, agreed to screen the film for Zed and other Hindu leaders in the US. But she defended it as a "satire created in the same spirit as Austin Powers (a series of comedies revolving around the madcap character created by Myers). It was not being made to offend anybody, she added.

Myers, the co-producer, co-writer and lead actor of The Love Guru, has received flak earlier too for offending Hindu sensibilities. In a 1999 photo spread in the reputed Hollywood journal Vanity Fair, the Canadian comic appeared as a Hindu demigod with a long red tongue, surrounded by Kali-like nude women.

Myers said at the time that he was only lampooning the likes of Michael Jackson flocking to Indian gurus. But the rage among NRIs in the US forced the magazine to publish an apology from the photographer.

The often irreverent and sometimes derogatory depiction of Hinduism in western popular culture has been a sore point with NRIs for many years.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com

New York: Hollywood’s reigning gagmeister Mike Myers latest comedy, The Love Guru, is set to be released on June 20 but some Hindus in the US are not amused, especially after watching the film’s trailers. They feel that the movie lampoons Hinduism.

The comedy has big Hollywood names in the cast, including Myers, Ben Kingsley, Jessica Alba, Bombay Dreams hero Manu Narayan and Justin Timberlake. Myers told Rotten Tomatoes, a website devoted to movie review, news and information, that he did tonnes of “read-throughs” and scripted the big laughs by having “secret shows” of The Love Guru in small New York theatres before polishing up the final screenplay.

Rajan Zed, a well-known Hindu leader who delivered the first Hindu opening prayer in the US Senate in Washington, told DNA that he had asked Paramount Pictures to arrange a screening of The Love Guru for Hindu leaders so that they could vet the film before it was released.

“I was deeply concerned after watching the trailer. It appears to be lampooning Hinduism. Hindu terms are also used frivolously. It perpetuates stereotypes of Hindus,” Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said.

Zed, who also teaches Hinduism in a US college, pointed out that Hollywood actor-producer Mel Gibson screened The Passion of Christ before releasing the film in theatres. He suggested Myers should also get a green-light from Hindu leaders instead of offending film-goers.

“I do have an email response from Paramount,” said Zed. “But we have to wait and watch.” Paramount, however, declined comment when contacted by DNA.

Myers is trying to create the magic of Austin Powers through his new film. The plot is goofy: Meyers plays Pitka, an American abandoned at the gates of an ashram in India as a child. After being raised by gurus, he moves back to the US (with his elephant) to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help.

Pitka’s unorthodox methods are tested when he gets involved in resolving a rift between a professional hockey player (Romany Malco) and his estranged wife, who starts an affair with a rival hockey player (Justin Timberlake) out of spite. This sends Malco’s character into a professional slump and throes of jealousy - to the horror of the team’s owner Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) and Coach Cherkov (Verne Troyer). Pitka is tasked with returning the couple to marital nirvana and getting Roanoke back on his game so the team can break the 40-year-old ‘Bullard Curse’ and win the Stanley Cup.

Following is the news report by Rafe Telsch, www.cinemablend.com

It’s not uncommon for religiously charged movies to give the groups they are depicting or possibly offending a chance to view the movie in advance. The Catholic church gets to screen some of the best movies that way, from The Passion of the Christ to The Da Vinci Code. It’s an understandable move, however. If the potentially offending group can offer their endorsement, it gets rid of a world of trouble and opens a film for a wider audience.

I don’t think anyone ever expected to see Mike Myers on the same list as Mel Gibson’s Passion or Ron Howard’s Da Vinci, but somehow he is. His upcoming film The Love Guru has been targeted by the Universal Society of Hinduism, who have put forth the demand that the movie be shown to Hindu leaders and organizations before its release.

The request comes from a fear that the movie appears to be lampooning Hinduism while tossing about Hindu terminology frivolously, according to a press release issued by the group. President of the Society, Rajan Zed, stated that Hinduism should not be taken lightly, as the oldest and third largest religion in the world. Here’s the question though Zed: if people haven’t been too worried about lampooning the largest religion in the world, what makes you think the third largest has a shot?

I’m not condoning Mike Myers or his movie. I actually don’t have much interest in The Love Guru at all. I have this nagging suspicion that it’s going to be full of many of the same jokes that showed up in Austin Powers, which in turn were used previously in Wayne’s World. Don’t get me wrong – I laughed at them in both franchises, but I’m not sure I’d find humor in the same punchlines a third time.

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