Searching for Sheela
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Searching for Sheela
| image = Searching for Sheela poster.jpg
| caption = Poster
| director = Shakun Batra
| producer = Karan Johar
Apoorva Mehta
Somen Mishra
| music = Benedict Taylor
Naren Chandavarkar
| editing = Nitesh Bhatia
| studio = Dharmatic
Jouska Films
| distributor = Netflix
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2021|04|22|}}
| runtime = 58 minutes
| country = India
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Searching for Sheela is a 2021 Indian documentary film created, directed{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/asia/sheela-wild-wild-country-netflix-1234958646/|title= 'Searching for Sheela' Doc, About 'Wild Wild Country's' Ma Anand Sheela, Finds Its Star Unflinching and Unapologetic|first=Patrick|last=Frater|work=Variety|date=23 April 2021}} and executive produced by Shakun Batra.{{cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/searching-for-sheela-trailer-netflix-ma-anand-sheela-controversial-life-watch-7269882/|title=Searching for Sheela trailer: Netflix puts the focus on Ma Anand Sheela's controversial life, watch|last=Farzeen|first=Sana|work=The Indian Express|date=13 April 2021|accessdate=25 April 2021}} The film traces the life of Ma Anand Sheela,{{Cite web|date=2021-05-10|title='Searching for Sheela' Summary & Analysis - A Misplaced Sense of Feminism {{!}} DMT|url=https://dmtalkies.com/searching-for-sheela-summary-analysis-2021-documentary-film/|access-date=2021-05-10|website=Digital Mafia Talkies|language=en-US}} who was the spokesperson of the Rajneesh movement, when she returns to India for the first time in 35 years.{{cite news|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/searching-for-sheela-trailer-shakun-batra-s-netflix-film-picks-up-where-wild-wild-country-left-off-101618209037423.html|title=Searching for Sheela trailer: Shakun Batra's Netflix film picks up where Wild Wild Country left off|work=Hindustan Times|date=12 April 2021|accessdate=25 April 2021}} The film is produced by Karan Johar's Dharmatic Entertainment and was released on Netflix on 22 April 2021.{{cite news|url=https://www.filmcompanion.in/trailer-talk/searching-for-sheela-trailer-netflix-docu-explores-the-journey-from-cult-member-to-cult-figure/|title=Searching For Sheela Trailer Talk: Netflix Docu Explores The Journey From Cult Member To Cult Figure|website=Film Companion|date=12 April 2021|accessdate=25 April 2021}}
Reception
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|38|3.80|eight}}{{cite Rotten Tomatoes|title=Searching for Sheela (2021)|id=searching_for_sheela|type=m|access-date=10 August 2021}}
Sayan Ghosh of The Hindu noted that the film "barely manages to scratch the surface, leaving bare a hollow exterior, despite concerted efforts to conceal it within a shiny facade."{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/searching-for-sheela-review-a-problematic-take-on-ma-anand-sheelas-complex-legacy/article34390472.ece|title='Searching for Sheela' review: A problematic take on Ma Anand Sheela's complex legacy|last=Ghosh|first=Sayan|work=The Hindu|date=23 April 2021|accessdate=25 April 2021}} Tatsam Mukherjee from Firstpost called the film a "crime against journalism" and "so tremendously low on insight and curiosity about someone as fascinating as Sheela that it seems like a criminal waste of an opportunity."{{cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/why-dharmatics-netflix-documentary-searching-for-sheela-is-a-crime-against-journalism-101-9557831.html|title=Why Dharmatic's Netflix documentary Searching For Sheela is a crime against Journalism 101|last=Mukherjee|first=Tatsam|publisher=Firstpost|date=23 April 2021|accessdate=25 April 2021}} Saibal Chatterjee said that the film is "an extended, circuitous version of a Koffee With Karan episode that ferrets out nothing of import."{{cite news|url=https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/searching-for-sheela-review-a-hollow-window-dressed-shell-1-5-star-2420068|title=Searching For Sheela Review: A Hollow Window-Dressed Shell|last=Chatterjee|first=Saibal|publisher=NDTV|date=23 April 2021|accessdate=25 April 2021}}
Writing for Hindustan Times, Rohan Naahar opined that the documentary is a "Dharma-style, surface-level profile of Ma Anand Sheela" that "brushes aside everything that is interesting about her in favour of fluff."{{cite news|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/searching-for-sheela-movie-review-ma-anand-sheela-gets-dharma-treatment-in-netflix-s-directorless-documentary-101618976588571.html|title=Searching for Sheela movie review: Ma Anand Sheela gets Dharma treatment in Netflix's directorless documentary|last=Naahar|first=Rohan|work=Hindustan Times|date=22 April 2021|accessdate=25 April 2021}} Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote: "Unfolding mostly as a very long out-take from Wild Wild Country, the puff piece seeks to project [Sheela] as an enigma and a survivor [..] but the film actually comes across as an attempt to follow an entertaining yarn all the way to its last, fraying thread."{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/reel/992820/searching-for-sheela-review-a-quest-that-goes-nowhere-and-probably-never-intended-to|title='Searching For Sheela' review: A quest that goes nowhere (and probably never intended to)|last=Ramnath|first=Nandini|publisher=Scroll.in|date=22 April 2021|accessdate=25 April 2021}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|tt14167424}}
{{Rajneesh movement}}
Category:Netflix original documentary films
Category:Documentary films about women in India
Category:Indian documentary films