Kumaré

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Kūmāré
Kumare promotional poster.jpg
Directed byVikram Gandhi
Written byEklavya Sakpal
Produced byBryan Carmel
Brendan Colthurst
StarringVK Gandhi
Purva Bedi
Kristen Calgaro
CinematographyKahlil Hudson
Edited byAdam Barton
Nathan Russell
Music byAlex Kliment
Distributed byKino Lorber
Release dates
  • March 13, 2011 (2011-03-13) (SXSW)
  • June 20, 2012 (2012-06-20) (United States)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$132,160[1]

Kūmāré is a 2011 documentary film directed by and starring American filmmaker Vikram Gandhi, who poses as an Indian guru to satirize the New Age movement.

Production[]

Gandhi came up with the idea of a fictional guru while recording another documentary film about yogis and their followers.[2]

Gandhi transformed himself into "Sri Kumaré", an enlightened guru from a fictional village in India. He adopted a false Indian accent and grew out his hair and beard. In the documentary, Kumaré travels to Arizona to spread his made-up philosophy and gain sincere followers.[3][4]

Reception[]

Kumaré premiered at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), where it received the festival's Feature Film Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.[5]

Kumaré received fair reviews upon release. Many movie reviewers criticized Gandhi's deception as immoral, but had partial forgiveness for Gandhi for realizing that the experiment had grown out of his control. Many compared the project to Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat comedic documentary in which Cohen also posed as the title character.[6] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, with Ebert reporting that its message is "It doesn't matter if a religion's teachings are true. What matters is if you think they are."[7]

References[]

  1. ^ "Kumare (2012)." Box Office Mojo. 7 February 2013. 9 May 2013.
  2. ^ Kumaré: A True Film About a False Prophet. Time. Event occurs at 00:51-00:57. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  3. ^ Melissa Bell (16 March 2012). "'Kumare' film examines blurred lines of virtual identities". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  4. ^ Bryce J. Renninger (16 March 2011). "SXSW '11 | "Borat" Gets Religion: An Interview With "Kumare" Director". indieWire. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  5. ^ Dave McNary (22 December 2011). "Kino Lorber nabs 'Kumare': Gandhi pic won Audience Award at SXSW". Variety. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  6. ^ Holden, Stephen. "Finding Some Principles by Telling Some Lies." New York Times. 19 June 2012. 9 May 2013.
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Kumare." Roger Ebert. 8 August 2012. 9 May 2013.

External links[]

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