Judging by its pretty awful trailers, there are probably a million reasons to burn every print of Mike Myers' latest SNL skit writ large before it even comes out, but Hindu and Indo-American leader Rajan Zed has hit upon one that actually makes it sound like a righteous struggle: He's leading a mass protest that involves contacting the MPAA, National Association Of Theater Owners, and film distribution groups worldwide asking them to ban The Love Guru until Paramount can make changes to it. Fellow crusader against lazy, accent-based comedy Bhavna Shinde issued this statement that landed in our in-box today:
"If the trailer is an indicator of the content of the movie, then we feel that this movie is most likely to hurt the sentiments of seekers from various spiritual paths. It will hurt the religious sentiments of the millions of Hindus worldwide, who hold the 'Guru-disciple' relationship as sacred. Poking fun is one thing, but if it creates a sense of belittling other's faith, then it is wrong."
Among the protesters' demands: "Change the name of the movie, remove any form of denigration towards the Guru, and apologize to the international spiritual community." May we add a few more? Like:
– Hey Mike, stop operating under the illusion that you're Peter Sellers.
– Make a movie that doesn't rely on "goofy foreigner" schtick. (The upcoming Keith Moon biopic aside.)
– Put Verne Troyer down, for fuck's sake.