It was in the 2018 docuseries, Wild, Wild Country—which traced the rise and fall of Osho's Rajneeshpuram—that Ma Anand Sheela first appeared as the fiery, unapologetic personal assistant to 'Bhagwan' Rajneesh. It portrayed her as the most consequential person in his empire, commanding over three lakh disciples.
Three years later, she is back in another documentary that features her as a petite senior citizen visiting India, 35 years after she first left Gujarat, madly in love with "Bhagwan", who would later call her a "bitch and murderer". "I was afraid that once she goes to India, she may not come back alive," her sister, Meera Patel, says in Searching for Sheela. "And now, we are at the end of the line, and she should go visit. Whatever happens, happens." In the documentary, a camera follows Sheela's every move from the moment she sets foot in Delhi—be it through the extensive line-up of interviews, hobnobbing with socialites or posing for selfies with fans outside packed auditoriums. A "mildly scandalous" Koffee with Karan episode is the first stop, where she explains that though Osho was in love with her, their relationship was platonic.
Produced by Karan Johar's Dharmatic Entertainment, the documentary is nothing more than a public relations exercise for Sheela that lacks depth and conviction. "Somebody has to take responsibility to erase the misunderstandings that the media has created over the years. Existence has given me the opportunity and I will take the challenge," says Sheela.
In 1986, Sheela was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment by a US court on multiple charges of assault, wiretapping and trying to poison an entire town, among other crimes. She also pleaded guilty for her role in the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack. However, in Searching for Sheela, these find only passing mention. There are no direct questions to her about her crimes that would give insight into the hot-headed, foul-mouthed, rebellious woman of the 1970s and 1980s.
When a youngster at an evening soiree with Sheela musters up the courage to ask, "What drove you to do the sort of bad stuff we hear about?" she retorts, "Why, do you want to do crimes also? Do you want to learn that from me? Were you there? Had you seen anyone do it?" Sheela then pauses, throws her hands in the air and continues, "After 35 years, people are still talking about it. No matter where I go, people only ask me this."
Searching for Sheela glorifies a murderer who has served her sentence. At interviews and soirees, the 70-year-old is surrounded by wine-sipping, well-heeled people who are dumbstruck by her grit and gumption, and clap for her vague answers to questions. After watching the documentary, we still do not know who the real Sheela is, except that she is now the result of a carefully scripted public image of sobriety, self-restraint and social service.
Searching for Sheela
Available on Netflix
Rating: 2/5