Vikram Gandhi - Being Kumaré, the Fake Guru

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation

PodcastOne

True Crime, Talk Radio, Comedy, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2020

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 8: Lola and Meagan interview filmmaker Vikram Gandhi about the making of his documentary Kumaré, in which he pretended to be a spiritual leader from a fictional village in India--and quickly built a following in Phoenix, Arizona. They discuss how it happened, why he did it, and how his followers reacted when he revealed his true identity. They also talk about the prevalence of gurus in Indian culture, whether it matters if someone's fake if they're actually helping, and why we give spirituality a little too much weight in our lives. If you have your own story about cults, high-control groups, manipulation, or abuse of power, shoot us an email at [email protected]. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: @trustmepodcast @oohlalola @vibehigherbitch OR TWITTER: @trustmecultpod @ohlalola

Transcript

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0:00.0	Trust me. I'm like a smart person.
0:06.0	Yeah, I've never lied to you.
0:08.0	I never have lied.
0:09.0	If you think that one person has all the answers.
0:12.6	Don't!
0:13.6	Welcome to Trust Me, the podcast about Colt's Extreme Belief and the abusive power from two humans
0:20.4	who've actually lived it.
0:21.8	I am Lola Blancanc and I am Megan Elizabeth.
0:24.8	Today we are talking to Vikram Gandhi also known as his alter ego persona
0:31.0	Pumare. Vikram made a documentary back in I think 2012, I want to say, called
0:37.1	Kumare in which he adopts a persona of an Indian guru. he puts on an accent, and basically gets all of these
0:46.4	followers on board. We are going to talk about how he did it, why he did it, how he
0:51.5	feels about it now, and how everyone reacted when he revealed his true identity.
0:56.0	He was able to convince so many people that he was something that he's not,
1:01.8	just by pretending to be it, which is what so many people
1:05.7	we talk about on this show have done.
1:08.0	Yes, but they don't typically come out at the end and admit it.
1:12.3	Yeah, that's a fun twist.
1:14.0	We will also discuss the prevalence of gurus and Indian culture,
1:16.0	whether it matters if someone is a fake,
1:18.0	if they're actually helping you,
1:20.0	and what spirituality is,
	...

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