Maa Anand Sheela also known as Sheela Birnstiel or Sheela Ambalal Patel is an Indian born & a former personal secretary & spokesperson of the godman Rajneesh (known as Osho). She has been an American-Swiss convicted criminal & was involved in various crimes & controversies mostly in the 1980s.
She was the assistant of Rajneesh from 1981 to 1985 & managed the Rajneeshpuram ashram in Wasco County, Oregon, United States. And, in the year 1986, she was convicted in the attempt to murder & assault for her role in the Rajneeshee bioterror attack in 1984.
Sentenced to 20 years of jail, she later got paroled after 39 months.
Recent news reported that a biopic was going to be made on the assistant of Osho & regarding the same, actress Priyanka Chopra had made an announcement in the Ellen Show that she will be working on a film based on Ma Anand Sheela which will be directed by Barry Levinson.
However, it seems Sheela prefers actress Alia Bhatt over Priyanka Chopra to play her in a biopic. She also sent a legal notice to Priyanka Chopra showing discontent of her playing the role in the biopic & said, “I told her I do not give her permission to do the film because I have not chosen her… In Switzerland, we send legal notices very simply. I sent her an email which is accepted there as legal.”
On preferring Alia Bhatt, she quoted, “I saw bits of a film that my sister was watching, and I thought, I looked like her when I was young. I asked my sister, ‘Did I look like her when I was young? Do you remember’? And she said, ‘Yes, you do’. I feel she has the spunk in her that I had. Spunk is very necessary and it is very natural, it is not artificial, not cosmetic, it is genuine.”
Priyanka is yet to respond to the notice sent to her. Sheela, however, said that she never got even a courtesy letter stating that they received her notice & adds that may be the actress never had the opportunity to meet her or make time to meet her which is not a big issue according to the controversial figure.
Director Karan Johar also interviewed the controversial personality recently& was all praises for her on his Instagram post. Ma Anand Sheela has already been the subject of a documentary called ‘Wild Wild Country’ on Netflix & now Shakun Batra will also be producing a new Netflix documentary named ‘Ma Anand Sheela’ for Dharma productions directed by Amit Madhesiya & Shirley Abraham. This documentary will show conversations between Sheela & Johar, her interviews, her candid moments of her trip to India.
Shakun Batra will make a separate biopic on Sheela casting Alia Bhatt in the role & this will also be produced by Dharma Productions. Batra said that the documentary will take off from where ‘Wild Wild Country’ ended & will showcase her return to India & show who the real Ma Anand Sheela is.
