Produced by Dharmatic Entertainment, Searching for Sheela is easily one of the most anticipated documentaries of the year, and is all set to release on Netflix on April 22, 2021. The trailer, which dropped on Monday, gives us a glimpse into the life journey of controversial figure Ma Anand Sheela ("I have bigger scandals than show business," she states in the documentary's first look), and takes us through her first visit to India after almost four decades. From discussions with Karan Johar on her much-talked-about relationship with Osho, to a conversation with Barkha Dutt on the aftermath of being abandoned by ‘Bhagwan’, the now public snippets of Searching for Sheela take watchers deeper into the world we first learnt of in Wild Wild Country, with a strong spotlight on the woman who stood by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh from 1981 through 1985.
Below, we reveal five surprising things you probably never knew the star subject of Searching for Sheela, Sheela Ambalal Patel.
Ma Anand Sheela became a follower of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the spiritual leader of the Rajneesh movement, at the young age of 16. Holding on to the teachings she picked up over the years, she aims to spend her life in service and now runs two nursing homes: Matrusaden (mother’s home) and Bapusaden (father’s home), both of which offer shelter for the elderly suffering with mental illnesses. “It is the love of my parents that I have received that must be shared with people,” she revealed in an interview with Vogue. “They were my inspiration to create nursing homes.”
Born Sheela Ambalal Patel in Vadodara, the 71-year-old was once married to Marc Harris Silverman, an American citizen who moved with her to India to pursue spiritual studies. After his death in 1980, she married her second husband, American John Joseph Shelfer. The couple sealed the deal with an on-flight wedding ceremony while on their way to Mumbai, most likely while flying over Turkey. Not too long after, Shelfer passed away, leading to Ma Anand Sheela's third and final marriage to Swiss citizen Urs Birnstiel, who died of AIDS in 1992. Would she recommend marriage to younger generations? “No,” Ma Anand Sheela confessed to Vogue. “But I had the best married relationship because there was the basic freedom in us. You were allowed to be yourselves and have other relationships if need be.”
In 1986, Ma Anand Sheela pleaded guilty to attempted murder for her part in the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack—known to be one of the biggest of its kind in American history—and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. She was released for good behaviour after serving 39 months in jail and a fine of $470,000. “I have served my time gracefully and now people should leave the thing,” she once said. “Why are people punished? People are punished because once they have served their sentencing the account is zero-zero. In my case, it is not zero-zero. The world would like to try me again and again and again and send me into prison. Now we have to move on.”
In 1996, after Osho's death, Ma Anand Sheela shared her experiences with her guru in a memoir that was originally written in German, and later converted to English.
Ma Anand Sheela rose to fame after being spotlighted in the popular Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country, and with the excitement around Searching for Sheela's trailer, it's safe to say that she continues to be a topic of major interest around the world. Earlier this year, it was also rumoured that Priyanka Chopra will be playing the lead in the Amazon Studios drama Sheela, directed and co-produced by Barry Levinson. Ma Anand Sheela later confirmed that she also found Alia Bhatt suited to play her on-screen, saying, “I feel she has the spunk in her that I had.”
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