Kumaré

Kumaré is director Vikram Gandhi's social experiment documentary, in which he himself adopts the identity of a fake guru named Sri Kumaré to test whether he could build a real following in Arizona. Gandhi, raised in an observant Hindu immigrant family, found Americans' embrace of guru culture ironic. The film had its world premiere at SXSW on March 13, 2011, where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature; its wider release on June 20, 2012, grossed 132,160 dollars. At the film's climax, Gandhi revealed his true identity to his followers, prompting mixed reactions. Gandhi went on to join HBO's Vice as a producer and later directed Barry (2016), about a young Barack Obama. Who it's for: anyone curious about a social experiment documentary where the director himself adopts a fake guru identity and builds a real following from real people. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a detached, externally observed documentary, since the director is himself inside the deception at the film's center.