The Answer

Story: The film traces the journey of James Donald Walters, a 22-year-old American man who renounces the world in order to find spiritual enlightenment with his guru Paramahansa Yogananda, and transforms into Swami Kriyananda


Review: As a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda’s life is incredible, in the way that he transformed how the West views Eastern spirituality. He was one of the foremost yogi’s to take the practice of yoga to the world and his life’s work needs to be focused on a movie about him. 'The Answer', instead, completely zooms in on the bond between Yogananda and Walters. To understand Yogananda properly, one needs to be aware of his backstory. Seventy percent of the film instead, is about Yogananda imparting teachings to his followers, the chief being Walter through discourses, exercises, and even outright miracles.

The palette used in the film is bright, and the 30s period, where the movie is based, is depicted well even though it is not on a big scale. Victor Banerjee gives a credible performance as Yogananda and displays a myriad of forms of the guru quite well. However, Leonidas Gulaptis as Kriyananda struggles to keep pace and one cannot identify much with him. The songs, mostly the hymns sang by Walters himself are soothing.

For devotees of Paramahansa Yogananda, the film offers an excellent chance to learn from his teachings. For those who don’t know about him, it would be advisable to read his book, 'The Autobiography of a Yogi' instead. That will give you more answers than 'The Answer' ever could!