A voyage into the weird and wonderful world of Mr B
Premanand and a fanatical rationalist.
The irreverant Mr Premanand, India's leading guru buster,
is a man with two missions. The first is to expose any
charlatan who pretends his magic tricks are miracles; the
second is to dispel the curse of gullibility blighting his
country and to replace it instead with the gospel of
rationalism.
To that end, this sprightly septuagenarian has spent the
last 25 years touring Indian villages and schools
demonstrating the fallacy of so-called 'miracles'. His crusade
has ensured his own mastery over magic and at the age of 73 he
is the oldest member of India's International Brotherhood of
Magicians, with a knowledge of over 1,500 tricks. He is also
convenor of the Federation of Indian Rationalists, head of the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and
editor of a monthly journal.
Tanya Dutta catches up with Mr Premanand on a rollercoaster
trip around India. With him, she encounters a cosmic healer
who can diagnose colour hunger, tries out meditation under a
pyramid and witnesses the bizarre case of a statue growing
hair.
But catching fraudulent godmen is not plain sailing. As
Tanya and Mr Premanand go on the trail of a guru who claims he
can heal, they are stalled, spied on and ultimately given the
slip.
At a time when Indian politics has become more and more
coloured by religion, Mr Premanand is determined to smash the
stranglehold of superstition wherever he sees it. Some people
think he's going too far. He's survived several vicious
beatings and even murder attempts but, despite the risks, he
remains undeterred, convinced that his vision for India is the
only way forward.