I first discovered Osho when someone mentioned him being a provocative guru in India. I am a little skeptical when I hear “Guru”, too many people are called that hence I did not pay much attention. I was later told that followers included many prominent film personalities such as "Vinod Mehra" and "Mahesh bhatt" so It got little more interesting. I never dug anything beyond but, I did come across a few meditation centers in Hyderabad.

When I discovered the documentary “Wild Wild Country” on Netflix, I wondered what 6 hours of tv would reveal about him. There is always a healthy debate at home (with wife and the little one) on the opportunity cost(time is money) of watching these long series. However, I was wonderfully surprised by the narrative brilliance of the story and the magnitude of the events. I felt a little ashamed I never knew something like this had happened.

The 6 part series has a wonderful narrative talking about events that unfolded when the Rajnish movement was at its peak. I was fascinated by Ma Anand Sheela, her boldness in taking the bull by the horn and defending herself 30 years since, shows her state of mind then and now. The documentary does not take sides making it even more interesting as the story unfolds.

It would have been hard, not to get sucked into the philosophy if you were born during those times. Rajnish just unshackled the mysticism in Indian spirituality and sprinkled it with capitalism and sex. All in all the ingredients were a perfect recipe for the times and people just got sucked into it.

Newton’s law did catch up ultimately and the reaction to the actions taken by the new age sanyasin’s unfolded in epic proportions. Towards the end, you feel for both the sides and wonder where the experiment would have lead if it was allowed to go in its ideal state.

A must watch for any one interested in history.