'Searching for Sheela' Ending Explained: Netflix special treats Osho's aide as a plaything for India's rich rather than a person
If you have seen Netflix's documentary about Osho, 'Wild Wild Country', and how he came to the US with the help of his personal aide Ma Anand Sheela, you would know that she has gumption. Her interview from the past when Rajneeshpuram was at the peak of its glory reveals that she would do anything to protect the ones she loved, and the ones who followed her.
She had in fact called the people of the town that Rajneeshpuram was built in bigoted in an address to followers of Osho, and did not stop herself from expressing how the town deserved to be taken away from such bigoted people. She was indeed wild, and her response to threats was equally intense. From flicking a middle finger in interviews to walking out of one, this is a woman who understands how the press works but has no qualms about expressing herself. So it is disappointing to see a shell of who she really is in the Netflix feature that is ironically titled 'Searching for Sheela', as we end up searching for Sheela through it all.
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It is also interesting that she would mention in the very same feature how history when written about Rajneeshpuram was more about Bhagwan (Rajneesh aka Osho) than about her. She is clearly frustrated at the barrage of questions on similar lines - did she really do it? Did she try to poison the town? Did she wiretap Bhagwan? Did she commit immigration fraud? She continually responds with different variations of how she never committed crimes as the media portrayed and explains briefly that all she did admit to was bringing Bhagwan to the US, which she claims to have done legally and to have wiretapped his room, which she claims to have done for his safety.
The feature is produced to sound and look like it is a diary, where Ma Anand Sheela confesses her thoughts when she returns home after almost four decades, but that is barely what we get. In fact, there is really very little of the vivacious and unabashed Sheela we see in the feature. It is only at the very end when Sheela visits her home in Vadodra, Gujarat, do we sense a tangible, unchoreographed moment. This is when she remembers her father, and how he used to occupy a certain spot at home, and it is clear that she was transported to the past. She was overwhelmed and it was great to see that unfold, but otherwise, what is 'Searching for Sheela' really about?
In the name of a book tour feature, all we see in this close to one hour feature is Ma Anand Sheela being serenaded in front of the rich and wealthy. A well-known photographer hosts her, a farmhouse in Chattarpur sees the rich gather around in intrigue, and there is even an overheard conversation where one person even tells the host that this could turn out to be something that he/they could boast about in the future. That he/they could claim that they hosted a killer. It was clear that for those who had an audience with Sheela, she was just the next big thing in the city to gossip about.
The questions that people asked, the reaction to Sheela's claims that she doesn't feel guilty is met with laughs and chortles. It is as if this privileged bunch of people sitting and sipping champagne have a secret that only they know of and one that only we can guess at. This sickening mood seeps in especially when Sheela speaks about her prison time with socialite Bina Ramani, who had also been jailed in relation to the death of model Jessica Lal. To watch as all of them put themselves center-forward when the subject of the feature herself seemed to be quiet, is what really makes this feature intolerable.
If you are in the mood to know more about Ma Anand Sheela - if she really is a feminist who fought for herself in the 70s or if she is a killer, here's a suggestion. Watch the actual interviews that the feature includes. There is one with journalist Barkha Dutt that took place at Dehradun Lit Fest that year, which touches on the "lover's quarrel" between her and Rajneesh and there is the more glitzy one with film director Karan Johar, in which, for just a moment, you see the Sheela who had said "tough titties".