Before Sheela Ambalal Patel (or Sheela Silverman, or Ma Anand Sheela, or Sheela Birnstiel) announced that Alia Bhatt was her choice of acto...
Before Sheela Ambalal Patel (or Sheela Silverman, or Ma Anand Sheela, or Sheela Birnstiel) announced that Alia Bhatt was her choice of actor to play her on the big screen, and long after she sent a legal notice to Priyanka Chopra when she heard that Chopra was developing a script based on her life, the former Rajneesh aide was meeting journalists in India.
Sheela is the subject of a Netflix documentary produced by Shakun Batra. Searching For Sheela will include a conversation between Sheela and Karan Johar, interviews, and candid moments of her trip through India. The documentary will be streamed on Netflix on April 22.
Sheela, who is now 71, was the personal secretary and spokesperson of the godman Rajneesh in the 1980s. She ran his commune, Rajneeshpuram, in the American state of Oregon, and was involved in a series of controversies and crimes. In 1984, Sheela was sentenced to 20 years for attempted murder and assault, but she got paroled after 39 months. Her story has been detailed in the immensely successful Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country. Sheela now lives in Switzerland, where she runs two care homes for seniors and people with degenerative illnesses.
“Spirituality is not...
