Hindus considering calling boycott of Paramount & Viacom products worldwide to express resentment over "The Love Guru" movie issue

 

In view of apparent lampooning by the upcoming Hollywood movie "The Love Guru" and its presenter Paramount Pictures showing utter disregard to the protests, Hindus are considering launching worldwide boycott of products of Paramount and its parent Viacom if no immediate acceptable solution is reached.

 

Protesting Hindus have been perturbed by "Paramount's utter disregard of the one-billion-strong Hindu community", who have vowed to intensify their campaign against the movie. Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu leader, who spearheaded this drive, has been saying that from the information available about the movie, it appears to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus and using Hindu terms frivolously.

 

In a communiqué to Paramount Pictures today, Bhavna Shinde, representing Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and Sanatan Society for Scientific Spirituality, said, "If this anti-Hindu stance taken by Paramount and Viacom continues, and these companies make no efforts to contact the protestors (including Rajan Zed and us) to arrive at an agreeable solution immediately, Hindus and other spiritual seekers, who hold the 'Guru-disciple' relationship as sacred, will be left with no other alternative, but to consider launching a worldwide boycott of Paramount and Viacom products, and not to have any dealings with Paramount and Viacom. The responsibility for this will lie with Paramount and Viacom, for not making any efforts to have an open dialogue with protestors and arrive at a mutually acceptable solution."

 

"We are appalled at the unprofessional attitude of Paramount and its parent company Viacom, who we had thought to be highly credible global business entities, held in high esteem. It is very unusual for corporations like Paramount and Viacom to behave so immaturely", Shinde added.

 

She listed various reasons of Hindu community "feeling hurt" as: apparent denigration of Hinduism and Hindu concepts by "The Love Guru", no reportedly promised pre-screening of the movie in sight, ignoring of protesters despite their repeated efforts for contact, failure to respond to protesters' communiqués, non-issuance of study guide on Hinduism for the viewers of the movie, utter disregard for the efforts of Hindus to arrive at an acceptable solution.

 

In a communiqué to Rajan Zed in March; Jessica Rovins, Senior Vice President National Publicity of Paramount Pictures, wrote, "It is our full intention to screen the film for Rajan Zed and other Hindu leaders in the U.S. once we have a finished print." Hindu groups have been repeating the same statement in the media since then without any denial or contradictory statement from Paramount, thus concluding that Paramount was going to stand by its words.

 

Clergy belonging to different religions and denominations has strongly come out in support of "Hindu brothers" and criticized Paramount. "Going back on promise is un-Christian, un-Hindu, un-Buddhist, un-Jewish, etc., besides being unethical," "Clergy's appeal to Paramount Pictures" signed by Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu religious leaders said.

 

Attempts by Hindu groups to reach Paramount executives during the last few weeks have been futile, as Rovins and her boss Executive Vice President Michael Vollman did not return the communiqués of Hindu leaders. Despite trying, Hindu leaders also could not get through to Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore and Chairman Brad Grey.

 

Prominent Indo-American leader Rajan Zed has said that it was shocking to see a company like Paramount, a brand of Viacom, which is held in high esteem world over and is known for its credibility and clean business practices, apparently going back on its word to pre-screen the movie for Hindu leaders. It is like sending the message that Paramount does not care about the feelings of one billion Hindus of the world. Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with a rich philosophical thought, and it should not be taken lightly, Zed stresses.

 

Hindu groups are re-planning their agitation in view of this development and leaning towards further intensification and taking it to the streets.

 

Shinde, in another communiqué earlier to Paramount, said, "So far, the protest movement against this movie's denigration of sacred concepts of Hinduism is increasing, with thousands of Hindus and spiritual people from around the world joining in. However, Paramount Pictures' seeming 'about turn' on their promise to the Hindu community may cause the tolerant Hindu community to lose patience and we fear the protests coming to the streets against this movie… At least the producers of 'The passion of Christ' movie had the decency to keep their promise to the clergy by holding advanced screenings for them…We ask Paramount Pictures to promptly contact Rajan Zed to arrange the pre-screening of this movie for Hindu leaders."

 

The apparent breaking of the promise by Paramount has angered various other Hindu leaders also, including Jawahar L. Khurana, Chairperson of Hindu Alliance of India; Rakesh Nagpal, General Secretary of Shri Ramayan Pracharini Sabha; Lila D. Sharma, President of India Heritage Panel; and Dharam Loonaa, Executive Director of the Universal Society of Hinduism (who have been supporting this cause espoused by Rajan Zed); who are also gravitating towards taking the protest to the streets.

 

Hindu groups have also contacted cinema/film related organizations worldwide urging them not to distribute/screen upcoming Hollywood movie "The Love Guru" till Paramount Pictures makes necessary changes to it, "so that it will not hurt the feelings of the worldwide spiritual and Hindu community." Hindu groups have contacted Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging intervention in the matter. Hindus have also floated an online protest signature drive, which had over 5,200 signatures today.

 

Meanwhile, furthering the drive pioneered by Indo-American leader Rajan Zed, various organizations and leaders have been coming out expressing concern about the possibility of "The Love Guru" hurting the sentiments of Hindus worldwide and urging filmmakers to be more responsible when handling faith related subjects. Various Hindu, Catholic, Presbyterian, Jewish, Native American, Methodist, Buddhist, youth, film, spiritual/religious, music, yoga, civil rights, etc., leaders have already issued statements in support of this cause espoused by Rajan Zed.

 

A prominent Jewish Rabbi, Elizabeth W. Beyer of Nevada (USA), has called for boycott of  "The Love Guru" because it "…lampoons Hinduism, mocks Ashram life and Hindu philosophy…" and asking "who laughs at religious practices".

 

 It may be recalled here that advance screenings of Mel Gibson's 2004 movie "The Passion of the Christ" were held for clergy and others.

"The Love Guru", a comedy starring Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame), is set to release on June 20 next.  Viacom is a leading global entertainment content company and its family of brands includes MTV, Paramount, DreamWorks, etc. Paramount Pictures Corporation is a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.