Acclaimed Hindu leader Rajan Zed has called out for boycott of Hollywood movie 'The Love Guru' because it lampoons Hinduism and Hindu concepts. A protest has been planned outside Brisbane theatres when the movie is released on July 10.

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, said, “Today it is Hinduism, tomorrow Hollywood might attempt to denigrate another religion/denomination.”


He has also criticised Australia classification board for giving it 'M' (recommended for mature audiences) classification when it deserved the highest 'R18+' (restricted to 18 and over) classification. Nobody wants the next generation of Australians, who are under 18 and passing through highly impressionable period of their lives, growing up with distorted view of Hinduism, Zed says.

A prominent Jewish Rabbi, Elizabeth W Beyer of Nevada (USA), has already called for boycott of 'The Love Guru'because it “…lampoons Hinduism, mocks ashram life and Hindu philosophy….”


According to reports, a protest has been planned outside Brisbane theatres, when the movie is released in Australia on July 10. Sajana Nand, president of the Australian Hindu Multicultural Association (AHMA), has called for a nationwide boycott of the movie. Vamsi Krishna of Australia chapter of Sanatan Sanstha, in a letter to Australia attorney general, wrote, “…please intervene in this issue and kindly use your good office to put a ban on this movie from being released in Australia….”


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 organises fights of disciples with mops soaked in guru's urine? Which guru urinates in the midst of disciples? Zed asks.


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 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 different parts of the world in the near future.