Vikram Gandhi's Documentary "Kumaré" - NYTimes.com IN his early 20s Vikram Gandhi, a fledgling Indian-American filmmaker from New Jersey, decided to make a documentary about the yoga industry in the United States, focusing on its offshoot, the guru. Then he decided to become one himself. The result was "Kumaré," named for Mr. Gandhi's alter ego, a yoga teacher from Aali'kash, a fictional place in the shadow of the Himalayas, who carries a trident and imparts his wisdom on some unsuspecting spiritual seekers in Arizona. The lesson, to those willing to listen closely: The only guru you need is the one inside you. Mr. Gandhi said the inevitable comparisons of "Kumaré," his first full-length movie (which opens June 20 in New York), with Sacha Baron Cohen's "Borat" didn't bother him. Mr. Gandhi, now 33 and a resident of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said he had already begun his transformation before that film came out - and besides, his documentary is 100 percent unscripted. In a recent interview with Kathryn Shattuck, for which he traded his character's flowing attire for an untucked white shirt and jeans (he kept the beard), Mr. Gandhi spoke about his spiritual path and pretending to be what he was not. These are excerpts from their conversation. Q. How did what began as a yoga documentary become "Kumaré"? A. I was meeting tons of different spiritual leaders and teachers, and I'd be saying: "This person is just making something up. Why does everyone else think this is legitimate? What I saw made me think: "What if I pretended to be one of these people? Wouldn't that show something about the nature of why people are grasping onto things, especially if I'm going to be saying that what I'm teaching is not real and it's kind of nonsense? Q. How did you progress? A. I made up a name. My middle name is Kumar, so I put an "é" at the end. Q. What about the yoga poses? A. Anyone nowadays who thinks that they know what authentic yoga asanas are is full of it. India has a lot of scriptures, but it doesn't have tons of diagrams of all these scorpion poses. Q. What was Kumaré"s appeal? A. Kumaré is not based on a character in India; he's based on a character in mythology. And even though people saw this man who looked like he was from another planet, he was super relatable - because he's just me. You imagine this man to be talking on a much higher level, but in fact Kumaré was the simple straight man in every scene. No great wisdom. He was always saying, "You have the answer." Q. Did you ever break character? A. There's a smile that Kumaré has and a laugh like some old Indian people I've seen who laugh without making a sound. It was like the masked laughter on top of my own laughter. I told people that the translation of my name, Kumaré, meant "divine child." I'm a child trapped inside this big man who has a trident and a picnic basket. Q. After gaining the trust of these people, did you feel responsible for hurt feelings once you revealed yourself? A. I was prepared mentally for everything. I already knew that there was no movie without the unveiling. I needed to display the mechanism of the guru and the mechanism of faith. And then laying all the cards on the table and telling them: "You're making changes in your life, and you don't need me because I don't know anything about you. I don't know anything at all. Q. Has Kumaré appeared again since the movie? A. I went to New York Fashion Week [as Kumaré]. Of course everyone at Lincoln Center was going, "I'm sorry, what is this? Circles hand and points at imaginary clothing. This is amazing. And I'm barefoot, carrying a trident. The next thing you know, someone has put a picture of me on the front of The Hindustan Times entertainment section with a caption that says, "Swami steals the show at New York Fashion Week."