Hindus give UK-wide boycott call against "The Love Guru" movie
Entertainment Desk
July 13, 2008
Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu leader, supported by some other organizations/leaders, has given a United Kingdom (UK)-wide boycott call for Hollywood movie "The Love Guru" by Hindus and other religious Brits because it lampoons Hinduism and Hindu concepts and uses Hindu terms frivolously.
Zed, who is president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, and who launched campaign against this movie starting in March, urging other people of faith (besides Hindus) also to boycott the movie, says, "Today it is Hinduism, tomorrow Hollywood might attempt to denigrate another religion/denomination."
He has also criticized British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for giving it "12A" (suitable for 12 years and over) classification, when he says it deserved the highest "18" (suitable only for adults) classification. Although BBFC claims "We help to protect vulnerable viewers and society from the effects of viewing potentially harmful or unsuitable content", but by giving "The Love Guru" a "12A" rating, it is leading the highly impressionable British children between 12 to 18 years to grow-up with a distorted view of Hinduism, Zed adds.
A prominent Jewish Rabbi, Elizabeth W. Beyer of Nevada (USA), has also called for boycott of "The Love Guru" because it "…lampoons Hinduism, mocks Ashram life and Hindu philosophy…"
The antics of Guru Pitka of "The Love Guru" are a mockery of the esteemed institution of guru, who is a highly revered spiritual teacher/master/preceptor in Hinduism and who helps remove the ignorance of the seeker and who leads one from darkness to light. The guru-sishya (teacher-disciple) relationship lies at the heart of traditional Hinduism. Guru is often allied with the divine. Guru bestows spiritual knowledge totally free from selfish objectives, Zed stresses.
On the other hand, guru in "The Love Guru" instigates a bar fight, repeatedly narrates penis jokes, mocks yoga (one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy), wears female jewelry, mocks the concept of third eye, makes disciples drink tea passed through his nose, orders alligator soup, induces elephant copulation in front of the crowd, introduces himself as "His Holiness", lives in a lavish ashram staffed with scantily clad maids, and whose goal in life seems to appear on Oprah Winfrey show, Zed says.
When did Hindu gurus become available "for hire"? When and who started rating them? When did shishyas (disciples) started joining ashram for the sole purpose to make girls like them? Which Hindu ashram organizes fights of disciples with mops soaked in guru´s urine? Which guru urinates in the midst of disciples? Rajan Zed asks while expressing concern about depictions in the movie.
Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion followers and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. No faith, larger or smaller, should be ridiculed at, Zed says.
Meanwhile, signature campaign launched by Hindu groups against "The Love Guru" has crossed the 6,700 mark.
The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body, which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912. "The Love Guru" (88 minutes), a comedy starring Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame), opened June 20 in USA and Canada and will be released in UK on August one.
Zed, who is president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, and who launched campaign against this movie starting in March, urging other people of faith (besides Hindus) also to boycott the movie, says, "Today it is Hinduism, tomorrow Hollywood might attempt to denigrate another religion/denomination."
He has also criticized British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for giving it "12A" (suitable for 12 years and over) classification, when he says it deserved the highest "18" (suitable only for adults) classification. Although BBFC claims "We help to protect vulnerable viewers and society from the effects of viewing potentially harmful or unsuitable content", but by giving "The Love Guru" a "12A" rating, it is leading the highly impressionable British children between 12 to 18 years to grow-up with a distorted view of Hinduism, Zed adds.
A prominent Jewish Rabbi, Elizabeth W. Beyer of Nevada (USA), has also called for boycott of "The Love Guru" because it "…lampoons Hinduism, mocks Ashram life and Hindu philosophy…"
The antics of Guru Pitka of "The Love Guru" are a mockery of the esteemed institution of guru, who is a highly revered spiritual teacher/master/preceptor in Hinduism and who helps remove the ignorance of the seeker and who leads one from darkness to light. The guru-sishya (teacher-disciple) relationship lies at the heart of traditional Hinduism. Guru is often allied with the divine. Guru bestows spiritual knowledge totally free from selfish objectives, Zed stresses.
On the other hand, guru in "The Love Guru" instigates a bar fight, repeatedly narrates penis jokes, mocks yoga (one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy), wears female jewelry, mocks the concept of third eye, makes disciples drink tea passed through his nose, orders alligator soup, induces elephant copulation in front of the crowd, introduces himself as "His Holiness", lives in a lavish ashram staffed with scantily clad maids, and whose goal in life seems to appear on Oprah Winfrey show, Zed says.
When did Hindu gurus become available "for hire"? When and who started rating them? When did shishyas (disciples) started joining ashram for the sole purpose to make girls like them? Which Hindu ashram organizes fights of disciples with mops soaked in guru´s urine? Which guru urinates in the midst of disciples? Rajan Zed asks while expressing concern about depictions in the movie.
Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion followers and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. No faith, larger or smaller, should be ridiculed at, Zed says.
Meanwhile, signature campaign launched by Hindu groups against "The Love Guru" has crossed the 6,700 mark.
The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body, which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912. "The Love Guru" (88 minutes), a comedy starring Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame), opened June 20 in USA and Canada and will be released in UK on August one.
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