They haven't yet seen the film. Of course, the movie makes a lot of fun of New Age spirituality. I thought this was a great opportunity to make our Indian philosophy even more popular because, despite the popularity of the books, young kids do not know much about it; and humour is a good vehicle.

Children and young people can then find out what real Hinduism is about. So I told Mike you do a movie (the $80 million venture is going to be a hit, say reports) that is a spoof and I will do a book that I will release at the same time (in June). The book is called Why Is God Laughing? It is actually about Mike and how he is a depressive person who covers up his existential depression through comedy.

Mike was being conciliatory (when he heard some Hindu groups were upset); he said he will meet them, show them the movie, etc. I called him and said if you think you are going to placate them, you are going to anger them even more. I would not placate them. I would make fun of them. I would say, is your faith so weak that a comedy can offend you? Your faith is not faith; it's a cover up for insecurity.

Just because you are vegetarian and you dress like a Hindu, it doesn't mean you have strong faith. If you truly understood your faith, you would not be so easily offended. What is offended is your ego. You are actually showing the weakness of your faith. I'm making fun of myself in the movie; I'm making fun of Mike in my book. And he is not offended. I ask the protestors: What kind of Hindu are you? You are so easily offended. You are not a Hindu, but an ego-maniac.

I told Mike, let's go on the offensive. We should thank them for making noise. The more noise they make, the more successful the movie will be.

The fundamentalists are reacting, whether it is in the White House or in India: They are so crazy. When you become that fanatical, it shows lack of faith. If you really have faith like Mahatma Gandhi, you are defenceless; you don't resort to these means. They (the fanatics) have done awful things in India... in Gujarat, in other places.

There is this person called Rajan Zed who is leading the protest; he will be seeing the film along with other Hindu leaders before it is released... You should write to him saying that you met Dr Chopra. He is very thankful to you for creating so much publicity both for the movie as well as for his book.

Image: Famous Hindu priest in the US Rajan Zed outside the US Senate on July 12, 2007.
Photograph: Paresh Gandhi

Also read: Deepak Chopra Homepage

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