In the name of God!
Godmen as bad men — a new B’wood trend
Even as court cases are pending against Asaram Bapu and Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Bollywood is making film and OTT projects about various godmen.
A big studio is all set to announce a film on a controversial godman from the 19th century, based on Maharaj, a Gujarati play directed by Vipul Mehta. Vipul and Sneha Desai have been roped in to write the script, and the film will be directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra, who helmed the Rani Mukerji-starrer Hichki.
“It is an interesting subject to do. The announcements will be made official only next month,” says a source. There is speculation that Hrithik Roshan will play the role of Karsan Mulji, the
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh newspaper editor, who exposed godman Jadunathji Brijratanji Maharaj in an article, leading to a libel suit. The journalist won the case.
Meanwhile, theatre legend Makarand Deshpande plays a godman in Sadak 2, the upcoming release on an OTT platform. Deshpande takes over the role of the baddie from Sadashiv Amrapurkar from the first part, where the latter had played a eunuch.
Sunil Bohra, who last bankrolled, The Accidental Prime Minister, is making a film on controversial godman Asaram Bapu. Bohra bought the rights of Ushinor
Majumdar’s novel God of Sin: The Cult, Clout And Downfall Of Asaram Bapu to convert it into a movie script a while back.
Sunil Bohra is making a film on controversial godman Asaram Bapu based on the novel, God of Sin: The Cult, Clout And Downfall Of Asaram Bapu. “The writing has just started. It will take a long time before we work on the casting. It may even take a few years.” — Sunil Bohra, producer
My web series, Ashram, starring Bobby Deol, who would play godman is not about any baba or any religion but about people who are massacred at these places (Ashrams). We have placed a disclaimer that it has nothing to do with any individual and religion. — Prakash Jha, filmmaker
“The writing has just started. It will take a long time before we work on the casting. It may even take a few years,” he had told us some time ago.
Aamir Khan was to collaborate with director Shakun Batra as well as Alia Bhatt in making a web series on the life of the controversial godman Baba Rajneesh a.k.a Osho. But the project seems to have vanished. There were some issues with the Osho commune as well. Priyanka Chopra, meanwhile, is to play Ma Sheela, the lady who was said to have controlled Rajneesh Ashram, in a Hollywood film directed by Oscar-winner Barry Levinson. The film is slated to mount the floors in 2021. PCJ is also slated to co-produce the film written by Nick Yarborough under her Purple Pebble America Banner. It may be recalled that films like O My God and PK, which dealt with tales of godmen, were mired in controversies, which may well have helped the movies. A case of the brave being blessed?