Kumare: The True Story of a False Prophet

“Faith begins as an experiment and ends as an experience.” That quotation from the Anglican priest William Ralph Inge,
which begins the documentary “Kumaré: The True Story of a False Prophet,” evokes the film’s ambiguous exploration of
religion, teaching and spiritual leadership.

When Vikram Gandhi — the movie’s New Jersey-born director, protagonist and narrator — grows a beard and flowing
hair and dons Indian robes to make a film in which he poses as a swami, you anticipate a cruel, “Borat”-like stunt. Cynics
will expect a nasty chortle when this glib charlatan finally pulls the rug out from under his credulous followers.

But the outcome is much more complicated.

Disturbed by the yoga craze in the United States, Mr. Gandhi, a self-described first-generation immigrant from a Hindu
background, travels to India and discovers that the swamis desperately trying to “outguru” one another are, he says,
“just as phony as those I met in America.”

After returning to the United States, he transforms himself into Sri Kumaré and travels to Phoenix, where he gathers a
circle of disciples. Imitating his grandmother’s voice, he imparts mystical truisms in halting, broken English. With his
soulful brown eyes and soft, androgynous voice, he is a very convincing wise man.

Initially, Mr. Gandhi recalls, “I wanted to see how far I could push it.” He is shown presiding at one gathering with a
picture of himself between portraits of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden. But his earnest followers, including a
death-row lawyer, a recovering cocaine addict and a morbidly obese young woman, are sympathetic, highly stressed
Americans who pour out their troubles.

As Mr. Gandhi warms to these people, who demonstrate an unalloyed faith in his wisdom, the film becomes a deeper,
more problematic exploration of identity and the power of suggestion, and its initially sour taste turns to honey. The
meditations, mantras and yoga moves he invents, however bogus, transform lives, as his followers discover their inner
gurus and gain a self-mastery.

For all his deceptiveness, Mr. Gandhi is not an egomaniacal prankster but a benign teacher whose “mirror” philosophy
involves uniting the everyday self with the ideal self. A goal of this practical program of discipline and reflection is to
cultivate an inner guru so that you don’t need someone like Kumaré.

“Kumaré” builds up to the big reveal, in which Mr. Gandhi, with great trepidation, presents himself to his flock as
himself, without mystical trappings and speaking in his regular voice.

The film’s message lies in a paradox expressed early in the film. His impersonation was the biggest lie he’s ever told and
the greatest truth he’s ever experienced. It is a thought worth pondering.