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"Love Guru" Upsets Some Hindus

The Love Guru, the upcoming Mike Myers yarn about a heavily bearded self-help guru with a curious accent who devotes his life to untangling the knots of romantic relationships, hasn't even hit the multiplex and it's already attracting loads of negative publicity and attention from Indian and Hindu groups.

These groups have requested that India's Board of Film Certification and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ban screenings of the film in their country because they feel the comedy, which also stars Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, and Ben Kingsley, who once played Ghandi, lampoons religion. Even New Age author Deepak Chopra has a cameo in the film. However, the groups still feel that the film takes unnecessary shots at a subject they take very seriously.

Paramount Films of India has not agreed to censor any of the material at this time, despite the pressure. The filmmakers most certainly didn't intend to offend and, at the end of the day, it's just a Hollywood comedy. Let's hope this is resolved to both parties liking.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
05.15.08