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May 20, 2008
The Love Guru Attacks
In the last two months, I have gotten about 3 e-mails a week from a man who seems to actually be Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed, attacking The Love Guru and either pushing or "reporting" support for various calls to stop or change the film.
I don't get it.
As far as I know, they haven't even seen the movie. But there you go. We haven't run any of these e-mails on MCN or further pursued the issue, since there seems to be very little traction or any reaosnable argument. There was a spike in interest when the British Film Institute released a statement last week that said, "Please rest assured that the BFI will not be screening this title nor will be involved with a possible release of it.”
This victory was turned upside down, however, when BFI was forced to respond to the spin on this story with, "The only reason we are not screening the film is that we don't support large budget films from Hollywood. We tend to screen small-budget films that need our support. There is no religious or moral reason whatsoever behind our decision not to screen it."
Of course, if you listened to Traditional Media, this story should be great guns on the internet because, you know, the internet will run anything! But it has not. Most of the play the story has gotten has been in the Indian media.
Anyway... just one of those interesting oddities.
The most recent missive, in full, after the jump...
For favor of publication/broadcasting
Hindus urge United Kingdom film organizations to halt Hollywood movie “The Love Guru”
Hindu groups have contacted cinema/film related organizations in United Kingdom (UK) urging them not to distribute/screen upcoming Hollywood movie “The Love Guru” till its presenter Paramount Pictures makes necessary changes to it.
Advancing the movement launched by acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed; Bhavna Shinde, representing Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and Sanatan Society for Scientific Spirituality, in communiqués to UK Department of Culture, Film Council, British Board of Film Classification, British Council, British Film Institute, British Screen Advisory Council, Cinema Exhibitors Association, Film Distributors’ Association, Churches’ Media Council, Video Standards Council, Cineworld Cinemas, Office of Film Communication, Showcase Cinemas, United International Pictures, etc., said, “…stop distributing or screening the movie till Paramount has made necessary changes to the movie, so that it will not hurt the feelings of the worldwide spiritual and Hindu community.”
“…If the trailer is an indicator of the content of the movie…then we feel that this movie is most likely to hurt the sentiments of seekers from various spiritual paths…it will hurt the religious sentiments of millions of Hindus worldwide, who hold the ‘Guru-disciple’ relationship as sacred…we are supporting Rajan Zed’s protest against the denigration…Poking fun is one thing, but if it creates a sense of belittling other’s faith, then it is wrong,” Shinde stressed in this communiqué.
Meanwhile, furthering the drive pioneered by Indo-American leader Rajan Zed, various organizations and leaders have been coming out expressing concern about the possibility of “The Love Guru” hurting the sentiments of Hindus worldwide and urging filmmakers to be more responsible when handling faith related subjects. Zed has been saying that from the information available about the movie, it appears to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus and using Hindu terms frivolously. Various Hindu, Catholic, Presbyterian, Jewish, Native American, Methodist, Buddhist, youth, film, spiritual/religious, music, yoga, civil rights, etc., leaders have already issued statements in support of this cause espoused by Rajan Zed.
On the other hand, Hindu groups have recently been approaching film distributors associations, exhibitors groups, regulatory bodies, government ministries, theater owners, etc., in various parts of the world urging them not to distribute/screen “The Love Guru” till Paramount Pictures makes necessary changes to it.
G. Kendrick Macdowell, Vice President of the National Association of Theatre Owners, largest exhibition trade organization in the world, replying to one such request wrote, “I am sympathetic to your concern as I have been to the ashrams in India and know a little bit about the guru-disciple relationship. I have not seen the trailer or the movie, but I can guess that it satirizes ‘gurus on the make’. I doubt I would find it funny. Nevertheless, we are not in a position to take action you recommend …we are a trade association, and we cannot interfere with the decisions of our members regarding what movies or trailers to play…”
Ilona Cheshire, Press Officer of prestigious British Film Institute (BFI), wrote in her reply, “Please rest assured that the BFI will not be screening this title nor will be involved with a possible release of it.” J.L. Green, Chief Assistant (Policy) to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), replying the communiqué, said, “The BBFC is sympathetic to your concerns. However, THE LOVE GURU has not been submitted to the BBFC for classification…”.
A prominent Jewish Rabbi, Elizabeth W. Beyer of Nevada (USA), has called for boycott of “The Love Guru” because it “…lampoons Hinduism, mocks Ashram life and Hindu philosophy…” and asking “who laughs at religious practices”.
Paramount Pictures, through its Senior Vice President National Publicity, Jessica Rovins, has earlier stated, “It is our full intention to screen the film for Rajan Zed and other Hindu leaders in the U.S. once we have a finished print."
It may be recalled here that advance screenings of Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie “The Passion of the Christ” were held for clergy and others.
“The Love Guru”; a comedy starring Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame, who is also the co-writer and co-producer), Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Ben Kingsley; and directed by Marco Schnabel; is set to release on June 20 next. In it Myers, an American, raised in an ashram in India, moves back to US as Guru Pitka to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality.
Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion followers. Moksha (liberation) is the ultimate goal of Hinduism.
Paramount Pictures Corporation is a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
Beginning with first moving picture made in Hyde Park London in 1889 and Lumiere brothers first show in 1896, UK has considerably influenced the development of the world cinema. Claiming its Ealing Studios as the oldest in the world, UK has given us great films like “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, “The Third Man”, “Dr. Strangelove…”, etc.
Posted by poland at May 20, 2008 06:52 PM
Comments
Anyone see the YouTube video with Alba doing THE STARE?
HOT AS HELL.
Oh, I forgot, no one here has a dick.
Posted by: LexG ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 20, 2008 10:14 PM
Link,Lex?
Posted by: doug r at May 20, 2008 10:20 PM
I should've known doug r was down. Sorry I didn't recognize.
Here's the awesomeness:
SO HOT.
Posted by: LexG at May 20, 2008 10:24 PM
lex-- i spent the afternoon talking with mena suvari and stuart gordon about their movie, 'stuck'...... i mention this only because, while i was watching the screener, i kept thinking how much you would probably say it 'owned'.......
keep an eye out for it, i think it's your cup of meat.......
Posted by: scooterzz at May 20, 2008 10:35 PM
oh, and on topic --- has anyone else been skeeved out by 'the
love guru' trailers where myers' head is cgi'd on the body of a ten year old?......yikes!
Posted by: scooterzz at May 20, 2008 10:39 PM
Thanks for the tip, Scooterzz!
Mena is awesome. She OWNS.
Posted by: LexG at May 20, 2008 10:39 PM
So all that raging and fuming I did only bought us a week of peace and non-irritation? Dammit.
Posted by: jeffmcm at May 20, 2008 10:42 PM
brokering peace...one week at a time......
vote mc mahon '08.....
i'm there for ya......
Posted by: scooterzz at May 20, 2008 10:48 PM
hey lex,
it's usually the guys who feel the need to constantly refer to their dicks that have the teeny little wieners...
Posted by: leahnz at May 21, 2008 12:09 AM
hmmmmm......so sorry to see your comments reduced to size refs.....seems like a cheap shot......
it's actually been my experience that the guys who constantly reference their dick, have a huge dick.......nobody actually references a 'small' dick.....
i'm usually with ya, leah.....not this time though...
Posted by: scooterzz at May 21, 2008 12:24 AM
sorry to hear that scoot, i'm just taking the piss...reading about lex's dick on a daily basis is a bit tiresome. he certainly can dish it out, i figured he could take it. didn't mean to offend the men-folk or their wonderful dangly bits :-)
Posted by: leahnz at May 21, 2008 12:39 AM
yeah...a huge fan of 'dangly bits'.....we need more celebration there....
Posted by: scooterzz at May 21, 2008 12:44 AM
totally scoot, dangly bits rule, i'm 'for' them! i honestly meant no offence...to be honest, lex has offended me as a female so often i didn't even think about it, just wanted him to be more discreet about his boners...
Posted by: leahnz at May 21, 2008 01:11 AM
ALBA OWNS. KNOW IT.
Posted by: LexG at May 21, 2008 02:12 AM
Clearly, he was not offended.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at May 21, 2008 04:07 AM
This is one of those times where I think any supposed "controversy" might actually help. Unlike something like the Golden Compass which was marketed to children, controversy around The Love Guru might make it seem more cool to the teen crowd and young adults.
Because it looks godawful. I finally saw the trailer before Iron Man and I was stunned at how incompetant, unfunny and amateurish it looked. It looked about as high quality as a Police Academy sequel.
The irony is however, I do not believe Myers at all intended any offence. I have read and heard much about his personal antics but must also say that my significant other and I encountered him at a Toronto bar a few years back at festival time and approached him. He talked with us for nearly half and hour. Very unpretentious and seemingly very sincere. Perhaps professionally he is different, but I believe him when he says he meant no offence.
Myers is a comedian I really - want - to like...but damn... everything he has done since Austin Powers 1 and Shrek 1 I have loathed.
Nice guy, though.
Posted by: Nicol D at May 21, 2008 06:02 AM
People are raving about Jessica Alba's performance in the new movie...
STARE
**** Alba gives her most believable performance to date as a bored movie star gazing vacantly into the camera. Roger Ebert-
Like a deer eye-fucking the headlights of an oncoming semi- Peter travers rolling stone.
Hotter than 5 princess lea's in slave garb "going down" on a bucket of greasy fries- Harry Knowles Aint it cool-
Where's are all CGI? I have expectations. Jeffrey Wells- hollywood elsewhere-
I would have preferred more blinking- David Poland Movie city news.
Posted by: messiahcomplexio at May 21, 2008 09:15 AM
messiah, pretty sure that's the gd funniest thing I've read all day. Nice work.
And Nicol, I've heard similar reports about Myers from folks who've met him "in real life." I actually find that the more he's moved out of the limelight (at least on-screen), the more affection I have for him. He comes across as very non-Hollywood and as a guy who just really, really wants to make people laugh.
And maybe it's this general feeling that's coloring my feelings toward Love Guru, but I don't think it looks that abominable. Not particularly funny, but not any worse than either of the Austin Powers sequels.
But a lot of time has passed since those movies, and I can't help but wonder if Myers' brand of comedy is really relevant any more. The years since his last live-action appearance have given us Borat, the Apatow deluge (which I'm not a fan of), Wedding Crashers (which I am) the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg brand (priceless), and Will Ferrell oversaturation (funny when working with Adam McKay, not really with anyone else). The question will be whether not live-action Myers can compete in the current climate. I'm not so sure. I hope I'm wrong.
Posted by: MarkVH at May 21, 2008 09:59 AM
Off topic and probably menaingless but worth watching....Caspian very slightly exceeded Lion/With/Wardrobe on its first Monday. I also read somewhere that a few of the countries were Caspian was released outperformed the first film on the first weekend. I guess the success of the summer vs. winter holiday strategy is going to be revealed over the next ten days.
Posted by: Direwolf at May 21, 2008 10:11 AM
I imagine there would be people today offended by Peter Sellers in THE PARTY, which is simply a sincere beautiful character piece in which Hrundi is the hero.
Posted by: christian at May 21, 2008 11:25 AM
You don't need to see the whole film to know it's offensive to Indian people and Hindus. I was wincing during the trailer that was attached to Iron Man.
It's reminiscent of the depictions of Japanese people circa WWII. It's hard to believe such a film could have been greenlighted nowadays.
Posted by: repeatfather at May 21, 2008 01:35 PM
I've been getting Zed's press releases too, and it seems like one of the early ones mentioned he has a documentary coming out this year, so maybe the whole thing is his way of making a name for himself to promote his own product.
I was repulsed by the "Love Guru" trailer long before Zed started his campaign. I'm not a big Myers fan anyway, and this just struck me as painfully unfunny in a retro way. If anyone paid attention to Zed it would probably only help the movie, so let's be glad whoever's parceling out those 15 minutes of fame is working from an alphabetical list.
Posted by: SteveWarren at May 21, 2008 06:03 PM
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