'Hanuman Ansh', Vishal Chaturvedi's film on Neem Karoli Baba, has become one of 2026's biggest box-office surprises. The film opened on August 7 with just Rs 10 lakh but, powered by word of mouth, has crossed Rs 50 crore in India.
The film has prompted renewed interest in the Indian saint whose followers include some remarkable names from the American technology world. Steve Jobs travelled to India looking for Baba, Mark Zuckerberg later went to his ashram on Jobs' advice, while Google's Larry Page and eBay co-founder Jeffrey Skoll have also been reported to have visited Kainchi Dham. The story, however, begins well before Silicon Valley, with an American psychologist named Richard Alpert who returned from India as Ram Dass and helped introduce Maharaj-ji, as Neem Karoli Baba was called by his devotees, to millions of Americans.
