Vikram Gandhi is an Indian American documentary filmmaker, producer, actor, and journalist. His works included '' Kumaré'' (2011), ''Barry'' (2016), '' Trigger Warning with Killer Mike'' (2019), '' 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez'' (2020)''.''

Biography

Gandhi was born in New York and grew up in a Hindu household in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. His parents are Punjabi immigrants from Burma and his father works at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. He received his B.A. from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 2000. After college, Gandhi worked as a freelance video journalist and reported on political, economic and human rights issues in Asia for ''

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'', ''Time'', ABC and CNN. He also worked as a cinematographer and producer of documentary films and commercials, and his clients included American Express, Energizer, Yahoo and

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

. As a documentary filmmaker, Gandhi covered the emergence of the yoga industry in the US and, inspired by his own skepticism about religious movements, he started his own fake spiritual movement and called himself "Kumare," which is based on his middle name, Kumar. Impersonating a fake Indian guru, he gained a following in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. He filmed his interactions with his devotees and made the 2011 documentary '' Kumare'', which won the SXSW 2011 Audience Award for Best Documentary and was nominated for a 2011 DOC NYC Viewfinders Grand Jury Prize and a 2013 Cinema Eye Audience Choice Prize''.'' Vikram joined

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's ''

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'' as a producer and correspondent in 2012. In 2016, he directed and produced the Barack Obama biopic ''Barry'', which he describes as a "superhero origin story". He also appeared in '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'' as himself. He later produced and directed the Netflix series '' Trigger Warning with Killer Mike'' and '' Grass Is Greener''. In 2020, Gandhi reprised his role as Kumare for the comedy series ''The Guru Inside You'' that aired on First Look Media's streaming service Topic. He also directed the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

documentary '' 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez''. Gandhi is directing and executive producing alongside Jehane Noujaim, ''The Man Will Burn'', a documentary series revolving around Burning Man.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Vikram Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American documentary filmmakers Journalists from New Jersey Columbia College (New York) alumni American directors American producers American male actors of Indian descent