In a candid chat, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan, who stars in the upcoming MSG 2, tells us about the film, motivating the youth and future plans
MID-DAY (September 16, 2015)

MSG 2, the sequel to MSG: The Messenger, which released earlier this year, is all set to hit theatres this Friday. Directed by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan and Jeetu Arora, the film is based on a series of true events that kickstarted when MSG took it upon himself to reform the tribal community. From murdering the innocent to feeding on raw flesh, the project captures the brutality of their life. As the story moves forward, a devastating drought in the area leaves these souls to deal with the situation on their own. At this point, Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan, who plays himself, enters as the real life, selfless social reformer. 

In his pursuit to change the law of the jungle, he soon realises the task isn’t a cakewalk. And that triggers a conflict of epic proportions. Also, these folks’ grudge against the civilized lot only strengthens by the day, owing to an age- old secret, which is shrouded in suspense. However, Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan is determined to bring life into the heartless place and has his devotees supporting him to achieve his goals. After a huge battle, things settle and the uncivilised undergo major soul and behavioural makeovers. In addition to the above, the enemies who are bigger and way powerful jump into the fray and keep the action and drama alive in this racy and musical flick. Excerpts from the interview:

What makes MSG 2 different from the first part?
The story and the fight sequences are quite different and new. We have incorporated yoga and a few new techniques which the audiences are going to love. Apart from that, there is also a social message about superstition and the adivasi community. The film which talks about the transformation of the tribal community due to the Gurumantra questions the fact that if the adivasis can be transformed then why not the youth of this country. The film will entertain the audience along with giving them a social message.

How did you come up with the idea of a making a film?
We do a lot of concerts and during one such concert we noticed a young group of people who were regulars to our concerts missing from the front row. On asking them the reason for their absence the next time, they replied saying that they went to see a film. This gave us the idea of making a film with a social message to reach out to a wide audience.

A lot of people were opposing MSG 1. What problems did you face back then?
When MSG 1 was in post production we had already started shooting for the sequel. One day our company was told that the film wouldn’t be certified. A letter was issued saying that the Censor Board didn’t understand the film and hence it was referred to higher authorities. The film was then sent to the High Court and it is from there that we got the film censored. Later, the people who saw the film thanked us for making it as it had a social message. In fact, MSG 1 inspired a lot of people to give up their harmful habits.

You have always tried to inspire the youth of this country through your films. What other projects are in the pipeline?
Yes, we have always tried to motivate the youth and now, we are planning a special show on freedom fighters. The show aims at motivating the youth that gets depressed and is addicted to abusive substances. Apart from that we are planning a film that will showcase our culture, teaching of our religious scriptures and Vedas

What kind of films do you like? Who is your favourite actor?
I have watched only one film in my life and that too because the children promised me that if I watch a film, they will quit their addiction. It was way back in 1982-83 and I remember it was an Amitabh Bachchan film. Keeping their word, the children actually quit their harmful habits.

There have been rumours about you signing big actors for your upcoming films. How is true is it?
The next film will be made on a huge scale and will be bigger then Avatar. It obviously will have a lot of creativity involved. Also the production of the project will be at par with Hollywood. We are considering some big names and Hrithik Roshan has assured us that if need be, he will come on board. Once the script gets locked, we will finalise other things.

The film’s release is just around the corner. Are you planning anything special for its release?
No plans as such but yes we are planning a grand premiere of the film in Delhi where many known people are invited.

People talk about your fashion statements and we hear that you design your own clothes.
Yes, I had designed clothes for kids during their wedding and they liked it. Now the fashion line is so much in demand that I am planning to start a store for the same.

Apart from films, what are the other ways in which you motivate the youth? What plans do you have for them?
Apart from being a part of films and filmmaking, I am an international coach and we help kids develop their skills. The kids who trained under us have won the roller skating hockey competition for four times in Asian championships and apart from this there are many other sports where the kids have made the country proud. We always try and motivate them for a better future. We are also giving self-defense training to girls so that they can defend themselves in any situation.

How do you handle criticism and the opposition from people?
I remain relaxed and normal and concentrate on my work. We don’t have to fear anyone as we doing good work and God is with us.

Miracle-man, script-writer, music composer and man on CBI radar. Mirror meets Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan
Rishi Majumder (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 11, 2015)

To fight controversy, you need spectacle. I ask 47-year-old Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan, head of Dera Sacha Sauda, if I should worry that his followers will kill me, like they allegedly killed journalist Ram Chandra Chhatrapati, for writing something they didn't like.

We're in a conference room at the Times of India building in Noida. The god-man wears a bright yellow tee shirt and leopard print harem pants. His videographer hovers around filming us. Insan's eyes - in between vast beard and hair - are watchful.

The Dera Sacha Sauda, a socio spiritual organisation with five crore followers, has been embroiled in a long list of controversies. There have been protests and clashes over Insan seen to be dressing like Guru Gobind Singh, ongoing murder and rape cases, and suspicion of illegal arms possession. As we speak, the CBI is filing an FIR against him for having allegedly ordered the castration of 400 followers.

The Dera, headquartered at Sirsa, Haryana, was founded in 1948 by Shah Mastana who established 25 ashrams in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, where the Dera's key influence lies. Each Dera guru chooses his successor. Mastana chose Shah Satnam Singh who passed the reigns to Insan in 1990.

People of any religion or caste can be members. They adopt 'Insan' as their surname.

To my question Insan offers context. "In the ashram we often discover cobras. We put them into 20 litre Bisleri containers and set them free. If someone abuses he goes without food for a day. How can I order a killing?"

There's the spectacle. A man conjuring up an image of a deadly cobra in a Bisleri container.

Another spectacle is the trailer of MSG: The Messenger of God (the first part of the title is a hybrid abbreviation of the latter) a film where Insan plays himself. It's about the Insan's war against social ills and how vested interests conspire to kill him. Insan is also the director, cinematographer, costumer, music director and playback singer. The trailer shows him breaking out of a snow hill, pulping goons, wearing outlandish outfits, performing stunts, shattering a giant tree stem with a punch. In a song, he makes terrorists faint by playing the mouth organ. The film is produced, sans irony, by Haqeeqat Entertainment, run by a Dera follower. Production has cost less than Rs 10 crores, but publicity should cost more.

They aim to release it in over 3,000 screens. "We have followers everywhere," says Insan. "Besides North India I also do satsangs in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The response to the trailer made people feel it made economic sense." The trailer has over 21 YouTube lakh views. Insan claims to have shot 80 per cent of the sequel already.

This film, shot in 67 days, is a culmination of Insan's attempts, since 2011, to reach out to youth through pop culture. "Eighty per cent of our followers are youth," he says. He has composed and sung social and spiritual songs - that fall in or in between genres like rock, pop, rap and hip-hop - in night-long concerts with lakhs of people. The video of the particularly garish, Highway Love Charger, which went viral online has youth dancing vigorously to it.

At one such gathering some youngsters were telling Insan about a movie they had gone for. "They were embarrassed because cinema is perceived to be a bad influence." So he thought of MSG.

Insan's ideas on filmmaking are elementary. "I haven't been trained," he explains and says only that two key things are: explaining the right "bhaav" to the actor and settling on the "angle you're shooting from". Similarly, with music, he says he "simply wrote songs" and later "people said they sounded like hip-hop or rap". He recounts "walking alone, amidst nature" and thinking of a song to the "beat of my footsteps". Beyond this he credits "Ishwar" or his "Guruji" (Previous Dera Head Shah Satnam Singh). The same for costumes.

There has been hardly any press, so far, around Insan's co-director Jeetu Arora or co-cinematographer Vineet Sapru, who come from fairly unknown TV backgrounds.

For at the heart of MSG is the seed of modern propaganda: Marshal McLuhan's 'The medium is the message'. Says Dr Aditya Insan, an ophthalmologist and Dera spokesperson, "When people see one person directing, acting, composing, singing and doing stunts, they will know what spirituality can achieve."

When Insan took over he was 23 and a mere sevakar at the Dera, which had a following of around 11 lakhs. He got his guru mantra from Singh when he was five. He thinks he was first aware of a larger divinity when he was a few months old and "a bird would come repeatedly into my room".

There are other stories around Insan's childhood, regurgitated by Dera members like mantras. He drove a tractor at the age of eight, inaugurated a reservoir that never goes dry and so on. And contemporary miracle tales. Dr Aditya believes Insan helped his father out of paralysis. "I don't care if they strip me of my medical degree for saying so." Another spokesman, Pawan Insan, claims his mother's gall bladder stones mysteriously ceased to be a problem.

These are augmented with accounts of scientific achievement. Primarily the Dera's meditation centres and campaigns against drug addiction and alcoholism but also blood donation drives, an eye bank, a subsidized hospital and schools and relief work. Also, refuge to acid attack victims, transgenders, and sex workers who wish to leave their trade. Last year, the Dera spent roughly Rs 72 crores, its accounts department says. The proceeds from MSG, says Dr Aditya, will go towards thalassemia and HIV research and treatment.

The Dera's assets are declared to be about Rs 240 crores. Other less advertised ventures, run on Dera land or with its support, include, reportedly, a small entertainment park, hotel, restaurant, TV channel, newspaper, magazine, shopping complex, wedding hall, petrol pump, cricket stadium, aloe vera and organic farms, factories and shops.

To fight controversy, you need a point of disassociation. Insan doesn't want to talk about the cases, because they're subjudice, but when I press him on Chhatrapati's murder he says they're registering names of people who take the Jaam-E-Insaan (a mix of milk, water and rose essence, an induction ritual) now, but didn't earlier. "I didn't even know the accused," Insan says. "I can't control every action of every follower." There are, apparently, things even Guruji or Ishwar can't help you with.

But to really fight controversy, you need enemies, real or imaginary. And alliances.

When I ask Dr Aditya about the cases he asks me to understand "geostrategy". "By destroying the Punjabis and the Haryanvis, the ISI and the Chinese may want to destroy India's martial races," he suggests. The narrative he implies is that Insan is fighting the good fight and so 'foreign hand' in collusion with drug lords, bootleggers, alcohol companies and corrupt politicians is attacking him.Going by the trailer, this narrative will occupy much of MSG. I ask Insan why he appears so violent. "Self defence," he says. "I take care to beat up those attacking me in such a way that they don't die."

He says the Dera is teaching many girls at his ashram self defence. They're teaching boys too. Also, the Dera has a 'political wing'. "This is not run by the Dera," says Insan. "But followers who said they wanted to be politically active." The point of dissociation returns. "I merely preside over meetings and read out names of those leading activities to check for objections."

Leaders of various political parties visit him. In 2007, Dera "satsangis" in Punjab supported Congress. On October 7, 2014, 44 of 90 BJP candidates in Haryana met Insan. Days later members of the Dera's political wing in Haryana were quoted supporting the party.

It won. Now, Insan is glad Prime Minister Narendra Modi is speaking of issues such as Swachch Bharat, female foeticide and drugs. "He's adopted the same issues I've been raising for so long now."