Reno, Nevada based “Hindu chaplain” Rajan Zed – formerly famous for being the guy that led the U.S. and California senate through an opening Hindu prayer back in 2007 – is now carefully taking on Meyer’s portrayal of a Hindu spiritual leader.

Concerned about the portrayal of “the guru” – who Zed says “is a highly revered spiritual teacher/master/preceptor in Hinduism who helps remove the ignorance of the seeker and who leads one from darkness to light,” he has pushed Paramount Pictures to offer a preview screening for Hindu leaders and is urging them to “be positively responsive to the concerns the Hindu leaders point out after watching the movie at the pre-screening event and be prepared to make amends if requested.”

Other Hindu orgs like Shri Ramayan Pracharini Sabha have joined in with concern. According to a press release: “In a statement in India, its General Secretary Rakesh Nagpal said that portrayal of Hindu characters like buffoons is not acceptable.”

We here at Hyphen know very well how serious the role of The Guru is, in fact, the buffoonery and sometimes outright murderous behavior of infamous gurus inspired our own “Gurus Gone Wild” chart (Issue 11) chronicling the lives and misdeeds of gurus the world over, like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, aka Osho – who “[K]ept 90 Rolls Royces. He once bragged that he had made love to more women than any other man on earth.”

I don’t think "The Love Guru" looks very good, but I also think that it is making fun of the whole exotification of Eastern spirituality by the West. If Mike Meyers had donned brownface to play this role it would have been one thing, but he doesn’t. They don’t really show so much of his life in India in the preview, so it may be too early to tell how offensive this is. I wonder if any British people were offended by his portrayal of Austin Powers?

Check out the trailer here: