One Look...And The Tears Flowed

Starlets Jayshri and Flora, co-act­ors in the film MSG: The Messenger of God, have no doubts about the divine qualities of Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim ‘Insan’. The head of Dera Sacha Sauda, the gushing women claim, gave perfect takes each time, and this for a film where footage was shot for 300 hours (finally edited down to a manageable three). Indeed, Jayshri did not even have to use the standard glycerine to cry for a sequence. “Guruji” just asked her to look into his eyes and her tears flowed. The godman claims he does not have time to watch films and denies being influenced by either Bollywood or Pollywood.

But the film in which he is the director, hero, lyricist, lead singer, art director and costume director, he declares, isn’t just entertainment, it’s meant to convey a few “messages” to today’s youth, one of which is that even vegetarians can acquire Samson-like strength. The ‘rockstar’ baba, who has albums out in Hindi, Punjabi and English (search for ‘I will forget you never ever’, or better still ‘You are my love charger’), is also a sportsman and plays football, cricket, volleyball and basketball.  

Public praise for the Dera by PM Narendra Modi and the Dera’s ‘political affairs committee’ reciprocating by calling upon people to support the BJP in the Haryana election, a state government ban on exhibiting the film in Punjab and the allegation that clearance to the “self-promotional” film was speeded up following a nudge from the central government, have ensured publicity on a scale that even Aamir Khan would be proud of. That said, not everyone’s happy. The Dera controversies and its run-INS with the Punjab government has meant sporadic protests against the film in many places in Haryana and Punjab.