bhavip79

I was very impressed by this movie. I thought the narration-free documentary style was charming and allowed us to look through the eyes of patients and practitioners directly. What makes me sad are that some of the reviews don't believe in the power of this medicine and label some of the practitioners "charlatans". Some of the people I know and I have personally been cured of some serious illnesses, including some of those mentioned, by traditional Ayurvedic practitioners. While not all Ayurvedic practitioners are that skilled, there are truly good ones like those shown in the movie who can provide incredible results through this thousands of years old art form as compared with 150 year old Western medicine. That the power of Ayurveda is not well-known may surprise some viewers, who may be skeptical that any of these cures are even possible. They might think that Ayurvedic doctors would be billionaires if it was really true, but the attitude towards the practice may be hard to believe in a capitalistic world. Brahmanand Swamigal summarized it best: "...the Gurus taught us that if science is only followed for money, it is wasted. Wealth earned from medical science is always contaminated as it comes from the suffering of others. Thus, it must be practiced with compassion and humility."

I remember seeing this at a 3rd I Film Festival, and I was shocked at how bad it was. The whole genre of "Indian-American films"- from American Desi onward- is usually amateurishly written, and keeps focusing on the same themes over and over again- not "fitting in" to American society, having difficulty with parents, dating, stereotypes of Indian culture, etc. The only reason 2nd generation South Asians like them so much is that between Bollywood and Hollywood, there was no genre that represented their experience. On top of that, I found the FOB caricature offensive (and I am an "ABCD" myself)- having parents, friends and relatives who are "FOBs" from metro areas and don't fit the stereotype of socially awkward, bad-smelling people that can't speak proper English. It's almost like ABCDs take pleasure in pointing out the differences because they are ashamed that many Anglos think of US that way. There is a wide diversity in the people who immigrate here, and I know that my cousins in Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore actually grew up in far more liberal and progressive environments than we did here- their parents had no problems with them dating in high school or becoming artists or whatever. And that's not to say that a person who grows up in a small village in Gujarat or Andhra Pradesh is going to smelly, socially-awkward and not worth knowing, just because their values are traditional or they dress differently. Indian-Americans who have been the target of racism here and therefore ashamed of their origins shouldn't take it out on their "FOB" brothers and sisters.