HIPPIE MASALA
Featured in Video Librarian, November/December 2008
By F. Swietek
Rated: 3 out of 4 Stars - Recommended

During the 1960s, the Beatles traveled to India in search of spiritual enlightenment, but like most other visitors eventually returned home. Some Westerners, however, chose to remain, Ulrich Grossenbacher’s documentary HIPPIE MASALA focuses on four such individuals. One Italian man has devoted his life to the practice of yoga, and now lives a life of simplicity and prayer that makes him virtually indistinguishable from a native holy man. A Belgian woman also continues a meditative life, though she confesses to having difficulty finding mentors and also faces government fines as a result of living illegally in India for so many years. The other two subjects—one Dutch, the other Swiss—stayed in India not so much for spiritual reasons but because of their antipathy towards the Western lifestyle. Both men married native women, but while the Dutch painter with a young wife and several daughters appear to be generally content, the Swiss farmer is struggling to eke out a living, and both he and his wife complain about not being accepted by locals. Much of the entertainment HIPPIE MASALA consists of charming reminiscences from the quirky quartet (as well as a pair of voluble South African twins who’ve also taken up residence in India), backed by footage of their day-to-day lives. Recommended. Aud; C, P.