Searching for Sheela trailer: After Wild Wild Country, viewers get another glimpse into the life and times of Ma Anand Sheela, the controversial close aid of Osho Rajneesh with yet another Netflix documentary. On April 12, the OTT giant unveiled the first trailer for Searching for Sheela, an upcoming documentary on Sheela Biernstiel. The docu-film will explore Sheela’svisit to India after 34 long years, her relationship with spiritual leader Osho and her alleged crimes. Searching for Sheela is all set to stream on April 22, 2021, on Netflix.
The trailer of Searching Fir Sheela was unveiled on Monday by filmmaker Karan Johar. "You've seen her, you've heard her and you've definitely heard about her. Now she's here to tell you her own story," the My Name Is Khan director, who is producing the upcoming documentary along with Netflix, tweeted.
You've seen her, you've heard her and you've definitely heard about her. Now she's here to tell you her own story. #SearchingforSheela streaming from 22nd April, only on Netflix.@apoorvamehta18 #MaAnandSheela @shakunbatra @aneeshabaig @dharmatic_ #jouskafilms @netflixindia pic.twitter.com/RGm6bHiDXd
— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) April 12, 2021
The special feature also has a part where Ma Anand Sheela is being interviewed by Johar. The trailer opens with Johar welcoming Sheela to India as she addresses controversies from her past. The filmmaker will be seen interviewing her in a special segment and the interview was done during her last visit to India some time back.
Sheela was known to be the spokesperson of the Osho movement in the 1980s and the secretary of "Bhagwan Shree" Rajneesh. In the trailer, Sheela also says how showbiz scandals are all "kindergarten scandals" compared to her life.
Sheela also reveales how the docu-film will give the audience a glimpse of her "real self", her "identity", and her "life and its evolution over the last 40 years". She claims she wanted Indians to know about her "journey" of returning to her home in India. A journey she says she had longed for many years. "It captures the rollercoaster of emotions I experienced on this journey very well. I am looking forward to sharing my story with the world," Sheela adds.
Filmmaker Shakun Batra, who became an executive producer with Searching for Sheela, said the documentary is not an "investigative piece" but a deep understanding of a woman living on her own terms with a "questionable past."
This story is about an iconic woman, who blazed a trail across the globe...finally returning home. #SearchingForSheela trailer out today at 11am. Stay tuned!@apoorvamehta18 #MaAnandSheela @shakunbatra @aneeshabaig @dharmatic_ #jouskafilms @netflixindia pic.twitter.com/UgKJTWbnOV
— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) April 12, 2021
Sheela's involvement in the '1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack' was documented in Wild Wild Country. In 1986, she pleaded guilty and was punished with 20 year-long term at a federal prison. However, Sheela was released just 39 months later after which she has been living in Switzerland.
In February last year, Priyanka Chopra announced a project based on Ma Anand Sheela. Chopra will essay the titular role in this Amazon Studios series, titled Sheela. There were even talks of Alia Bhatt starring in a movie based on Ma Anand Sheela's life, to be directed by Shakun Batra.
Feature Image Credit: Dharmatic/Instagram