Indian Leaders Skeptical Over New Julia Roberts Flick
Aug. 15 2009, Published 1:30 p.m. ET
She's just a girl, standing in front of an ashram, asking it to go easy on her.
The latest film effort from Julia Roberts, an adaptation of the bestselling Eat Pray Love, is garnering some skepticism from religious heads in India over how dedicated the movie star will be to their customs.
Eat, about a woman hoping to solve an existential crisis with reflection in Italy, India and Indonesia, is heavy on the study of Hinduism and Yoga (the hard way, not the in-home mat training Roberts may be accustomed to).
"The people of India will be anxious to see how perfectly Roberts does her job of cleaning ashram floors as a part of her devotional duty, trying to recite 182-verse Sanskrit chant, and going through grueling hours of meditation, while being feasted on by mosquitoes," Rajan Zed told the New York Post.
Zed, head of the Universal Society of Hinduism, added that the belief system is "often misunderstood and incorrectly depicted outside India."
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The film costars James Franco, Billy Crudup and Javier Bardem.