By Samir Mathur
Contributing writer
Staff page | Twitter | Tumblr
Contributing writer
Staff page | Twitter | Tumblr
For all my Film Festival coverage, look for the tag FFF2012
KUMARE plays in the 21st annual Florida Film Festival, at 2.30pm at Regal Winter Park Village, on Saturday (4/14) and again on Tuesday at Enzian. (Details)
I was nervous about seeing this one. The press notes suggested it was an elaborate prank, a documentary by a guy who pretended to be a spiritual guru just to mess with gullible western believers. That kind of thing doesn't really appeal to me a whole lot. The idea of laughing at people who don't know they're in on a joke has always made me uncomfortable, which is why I'm on the fence about Sacha Baron Cohen. (Though he and I went to the same high school, and that's pretty cool.)
Anyway, 'Kumare' director Vikram Gandhi is smarter than I had thought, and has made a much better movie than I expected. As he settles in Phoenix, with a full-grown beard, some very advanced yoga poses and a couple of sexy assistants, he quickly builds up a devoted following. They believe in him, they trust him, they follow his methods, and they open up to him. They tell the guru their deepest fears and insecurities. Gandhi, as Kumare, can no longer just wink at the camera and say "get a load of these dopes" and his own opinions begin to evolve. Maybe, if blind faith gives people something to cling to and some hope, it can't be all bad?
'Kumare' is still very funny, as he meets other gurus who believe in increasingly wacky-sounding things, but it's also pretty suspenseful. Right at the beginning, they tease the big reveal - the moment when Gandhi comes clean and lets his congregation know who he really is - and as the film progresses, it gets more and more exciting. How will the people react? How will Gandhi himself react? The film won an Audience Award at SXSW last year, and it's not hard to see why.
