Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s three films in the MSG series released in 2015-16 have been ridiculed, thrashed and made fun of by not only the critics but the majority of social network users too quite openly and strongly. The films have been subject of crude jokes, memes, tweets and posts shared at various platforms and almost everyone has been successfully fooled by the supposedly spiritual leader/guru calmly working on his hidden well-planned goals achieved through his film-series.
But before moving further on the subject, I would clearly like to mention that these are just conclusions based on my personal assumptions after going through the experience of watching all the three films in the theatre with a completely different kind of crowd wherein almost everyone seemed to be the follower of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh or accompanying a long time devotee friend for a free show. So just consider it as a personal study and not any factual presentation to be precise.
The most obvious but least important reason assumed by almost everyone.
The first and most widely assumed reason behind the making of these films remains the hidden wish of every (insanely) wealthy person in the country of becoming a dashing ‘Hindi Film Hero’ performing the stylish fights, songs and emotional scenes on the screen fulfilling his childhood ambition. No doubt, this seems to be one of the reasons behind the MSG film series in all probabilities, but let me assure you that this is certainly not the key or any major reason at all. In fact this seems to be the last and least important of them all looking at the actual DERA mission with a much broader vision.
The first two films and their basic structure.
All spiritual organisations, individual Guru’s and ashrams in India normally print their brochures, pamphlets, lecture excerpts, magazines and list of programs/social works undertaken as their publicity material to influence more devotees or followers. At present many have regularly updated websites too going with the new-age trends to reach the young minds more active on the social networks.
But moving far ahead of that routine-outdated practice, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh thought of a new unique idea and made his ‘Part One’ and ‘Part Two’ of the series as a complete audio-visual publicity brochure of his works in Sirsa Ashram starting a new trend. And strangely every viewer/reviewer/interviewer or channel writing or airing about the movie unintentionally contributed in his intelligent promotional campaign designed so cleverly. As a matter of fact even the national newspapers and government too contributed in the mission, when the Censor Board created a controversy while clearing the first MSG film brought in for the certification.
So just in a few weeks, almost everyone in the country (as well as abroad) came to knew about Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and the Dera through his questionable cinematic venture serving the purpose well.
Proving the above observation or conclusion right, where the first film had people lovingly addressing their leader as Guruji or Pitaji introducing the DERA in Sirsa, the second film went one step further by even including ‘real life footage’ of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s social works and discourses in the narration with a voice-over spreading the message much bright and clearer.
However post these first two propaganda films the makers became even more confident leaving ‘the DERA brochure format’ behind and presented the third film in the series as a heroic fantasy tale serving another important purpose explained in the section ahead.
The shrewd strategy of turning Cinemas into a hired venue of the ‘DERA Event’.
If you have been a part or have visited a few of these so called spiritual DERAS in any region of the country (especially in Punjab and North India), then you must have noticed that they all have an annual celebration event and then a few other special events organized on regular intervals in a year bringing all the devotees together under one roof for a day or two. Purpose of which is to maintain or reinstate the spirit of ‘Shishya or Disciple’ in them, which might have got diminished or gone weak in the last gap period due to various reasons.
As a result, after attending every such ‘well-planned’, ‘energetic’ timely event organized by the Dera or Ashram, the people ‘satisfactorily’ return back to their homes reassuring themselves that there certainly is some ‘gifted divine person’ as their Guru who can help them in their difficult times providing both financial and emotional assistance as per their personal requirements. And mind you these DERA leaders do fulfill their personal and family needs unlike the politicians (which in fact is one of the major reasons of them having such mind boggling following and powerful local base.)
Now every such annual or half yearly event involves professional management, huge amount of expenditure and efforts of hundreds of people managing the visiting crowd coming in thousands and lakhs too, making an unbelievable sight.
But there lies a big practical limitation in such regular DERA celebrations, as the event has to be organized at a particular central place where all the disciples need to come travelling from their far off cities for a day or two which is both time consuming and painstaking, witnessing a good number of people missing the ‘special event’ unwillingly.
So Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his team thought of an extremely clever idea of taking this half yearly event to the people itself, instead of them coming to the DERA for the joyful celebrations. And for this he decided to use the medium of films and theatres as the means to reach his widespread followers living in various cities of the country playing an intelligent game.
Working on this superfine vision, he made the third film as a heroic fantasy extravaganza with many (amateurish) action and animation driven scenes saving the world from some ‘Alien Evil Forces’ like a ‘God Sent Saviour’ to be thoroughly enjoyed and cheered by his true disciples.
So what he did with his third film is that he converted the key theaters of selected cities as his DERA representatives and sent tickets to his disciples to come and celebrate their GURU within the theatre itself through the most famous medium of communication in the country.
In other words now his disciples don’t need to travel to Sirsa for celebrations spending both their time and money, as their Guru himself will come to their city every 6-8 months with a film, to remind them that they are still his disciples and he is always there for help in any time of need.
The assumption got proved when I saw Dhol players standing outside a theatre in a Delhi multiplex, people wearing T-shirts having the film’s name and pictures printed prominently and everyone dancing in big groups before entering the theatre exactly like participating in a cultural festival happening in the DERA itself.
A very well thought strategy indeed, to maintain and increase his fan-base reaching out to the existing as well new potential followers through cinema.
Sponsored HOUSEFULL in the theatres - Benefiting both the exhibitors as well as the followers creating a win-win situation.
Before the 80s it was reported that tickets of selected theatres were being purchased in bulk by both the producers and famous actors for either presenting their films as instant HITS or ruining the rival films by first buying at bulk and then selling it a lesser price projecting a rejection in the opening days itself playing a dirty game. In fact the trend was again reported to be back in the 90s too with the competition becoming stronger between the young newcomers.
Perhaps Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his team took an intelligent inspiration from this internal politics of the film-world and planned exactly the same benefitting both the exhibitors as well as the viewers creating a win-win situation.
Putting it bluntly, a film is made casting the key Dera members only as actors under the guidance of their creative head (Guruji), its released in major multiplexes by buying the complete 1 or 2 shows (per day) allotted by the theatres and then the tickets are distributed free of cost to the followers in that particular region of city by the appointed volunteers.
Further the followers are also provided assistance in reaching the theatre through various means of transports, a whole ambience of some kind of pilgrimage is silently displayed reminding them of the DERA itself, the big collective chants of ‘Dhan Dhan Satguru Tera Hi Aasra” can be repeatedly heard during the entire screening and then photographs of the big crowd watching the movie are also clicked for various purposes by the volunteers (as witnessed personally in a Delhi’s multiplex with the manager unable to stop them from anything standing as a mute spectator).
For friends having some doubts, the free distribution of tickets gets proved the moment you study the people visiting in big numbers (certainly not from the local surroundings) meeting and talking to the other groups in the lobby in a quite friendly manner. When families keep coming into the theater even after 40-50 minutes of the show-timings so casually as if they have come to enjoy a sponsored picnic instead of watching a film, when kids of different groups start exchanging theirs seats in the dark, giggling and making noise enjoying the free outing (without any interruption from the theatre people) and when you realize that almost everyone in the theatre knows each other except you sitting alone studying their collective response.
Admittedly I had nothing in mind but praises looking at the way Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his volunteers organized the entire show exactly making you feel like sitting in a DERA with the ‘Guru Ji’ addressing on the screen through his ‘already known’ dialogues. No doubt the disciples appeared to be more than thankful while coming out of the theater feeling some kind of gratitude towards their ‘spiritual master’.
In all, the followers are deeply satisfied, the theatre owners are getting their returns, the so called creative team gets to make a film and ‘the master’ is cleverly reaching out to his followers without even moving out of his chair sitting in the headquarters.
Moreover, the entire share of the tickets bought in bulk (in heavy discounts of course) again goes back to the DERA only ‘in white’ without any hassles proving the film-series a highly successful business plan by all means.
So anyone who thinks that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is making a fool of himself or the medium is severely wrong as he is not even concerned about me, you, the art-form or the creativity involved in the first place. The man is just using the system in a visibly successful manner and you can do nothing about it since it’s neither wrong nor illegal by any angle.
On a concluding note, where we are busy mocking his films as lavish trash bins, the unconcerned ‘tech-savvy Guru’ is busy addressing his people living hundreds and thousands of miles away through these continuing sequels. And in this way is increasing his fan-following with such an intelligent personal contact and communication program without even moving out of Sirsa.
Amazing it is …….. all I can say post studying the strategy in details.
Cheers!
