Bobby Deol Plays Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

What was at first only being whispered is  now confirmed  after the trailer  of  Prakash Jha’s Aashram came out  on Monday.

Bobby Deol plays  the disgraced rape-convicted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. At  first I thought Bobby  played  that other jailed fraud godman Asaram Bapu.  Then  the skeletons started tumbling  out of  the trailer and   it  was  pretty clear  for all to  see   whom Deol  was  playing.

The trailer of Aashram evokes a  kind of buzz and  bustle that  indicate  the hysteria  which  such godmen are  able to generate  among  their  followers.  In the recent Malayalam  film  Trance we see the  amazing Fahad Fasil  playing a fake godman  holding thousands in a thral. 

Bobby,  I am afraid, just doesn’t have that kind of an imposing magnetic   personality that makes a scumbag look like a godman  on a public podium.

I looked for Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s foxy  spirit  in  the main character  in  Aashram. Bobby’s presence  in something of this nature  is strange. But if John Abraham  could pull  off the dhoti-class social  reformist in  Deepa Mehta’s Water, anyone can play anything.

        Let’s see what Bobby  has done to the godman’s character.