After noticing the growing popularity of yoga in the United States, he decided to make a documentary about the New Age gurus who were referring to ancient Indian teachings to build credibility for their practices.

Finding them and the gurus in India to be equally phony, Gandhi came up with the idea of impersonating a guru and building a following, only to reveal himself, as a way of showing that spiritual leaders are unnecessary, and the focus of the film shifted.

[2] Gandhi transformed himself into "Sri Kumaré", an enlightened guru from the fictional village of Aali'kash, India, by creating a spiritual philosophy centered around the ideas of illusion and self-empowerment, growing out his hair and beard, and adopting a false Indian accent.

When he finally did, the members of his core group of followers disagreed with his methods to varying degrees, but most still agreed with his message and chose to remain in contact with him.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, in a positive review, reported that its message is: "It doesn't matter if a religion's teachings are true.