Hanuman Ansh brings Neem Karoli Baba’s story to screen: Who was he and why did Steve Jobs, Julia Roberts admire him?

A devotional film made on a reported budget of just ₹2 crore has delivered a striking box-office result.

Director Vishal Chaturvedi’s Hanuman Ansh, inspired by the life of spiritual teacher Neem Karoli Baba, has crossed the ₹50 crore mark in India, turning the film into a sleeper hit.

Set in 20th-century India, the film follows Lakshman Das from his childhood and spiritual awakening to his transformation into the man who would become known as Neem Karoli Baba. His devotion to Lord Hanuman and teachings around love, compassion and selfless service form the core of the story.

The film’s performance has also renewed interest in the real-life spiritual figure and his unusual connection with several globally recognised personalities.

Who Was Neem Karoli Baba?

Neem Karoli Baba was a Hindu spiritual teacher and devotee of Lord Hanuman. His birth name was Lakshman Narayan Sharma, and he was born around 1900 in Akbarpur village in Uttar Pradesh. He died on September 11, 1973, in Vrindavan.

Kainchi Dham in Uttarakhand remains closely associated with the spiritual teacher and continues to be linked to his legacy.

Accounts of miracles and extraordinary experiences involving Baba have been passed down by his followers. His life also did not follow the conventional path of a religious leader. He spent years travelling as a sadhu before returning to family life.

His teachings largely revolved around love, compassion, devotion and selfless service.

How Steve Jobs And Zuckerberg Were Linked To His Legacy

Neem Karoli Baba’s influence eventually reached audiences outside India through his followers, most notably American spiritual teacher Ram Dass, born Richard Alpert.

A Harvard psychologist before travelling to India, Alpert met Neem Karoli Baba and later documented his experiences in Be Here Now, a book that helped introduce Baba’s teachings to a wider international audience.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs also travelled to India in the 1970s and visited Kainchi Dham. Neem Karoli Baba had already died by the time Jobs arrived. In a 1985 interview with Playboy, Jobs spoke about the impact of his India trip and described returning to the US as a bigger “culture shock” than travelling to India.

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg later visited Kainchi Dham during a difficult period for Facebook. He has spoken about the trip helping him reconnect with the company’s original purpose.

Hollywood actor Julia Roberts has also spoken about her connection with Neem Karoli Baba. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America, she said she felt strongly drawn to his photograph despite knowing nothing about him at the time.

Director On Hanuman Ansh’s Box Office

As the film continues its theatrical run, Chaturvedi has resisted prematurely labelling it a hit or flop.

During an interview with ANI, he said, “As far as declaring to people that it is a flop film, I feel that there should be some standards in the industry. As long as a film is still in theatres and its theatrical run is not complete, declaring it a hit or a flop is premature.”

He added, “I feel that as long as the public is with you, your film will remain a hit, because so many people are loving it and talking about it. I used to feel that the film will be a hit and it will complete its run in two and a half months. In the second week, the collections were more than the number of theatres we had. We had 25 theatres, but we were getting almost the same collection that we were getting from 250 theatres in the first week.”

The director also described the challenge of retaining screens as larger releases arrived. He said, “The theatre owners had two other big films. They were putting up their shows. Because they were getting pushed from there, and they were taking out our film. They didn’t have any other way, but when all the shows were sold out, a crisis situation was created.”

The team responded by travelling across theatres to support the film’s run. Chaturvedi said, “At the same time, our team, all the people in our production team, all the people left their places, and we started covering each and every theatre. We even started our journey from Gujarat to Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad; from there, Rajkot, then Morbi. After that, we reached Rajasthan, and we went to Jodhpur, Jaipur, Udaipur and other places.”