Yoga, ashrams and kirtans are high on Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts’ list right now. The actress, who is scheduled to touch base in Gurgaon later this year to shoot for her film
Eat, Pray, Love, is currently gearing up to shoot scenes with yoga practitioners and a kirtan
band in New York.
The casting calls for supporting actors have already been made. A leaflet by the Central Casting agency has been doing the rounds in the past few days, seeking yoga enthusiasts across age groups who are “familiar with Siddha Yoga Meditation specifically in Guru Gita”. To apply, the ad requires those who are “comfortable chanting while moving your body”.
Another advertisement by the same agency on Craigslist (Manhattan) says Roberts will be shooting with a ‘six-piece kirtan band’ for a meditation scene on August 5. The producers are looking for people of “all ethnicities and gender” who know how to play a sitar, tabla, harmonium, etc — traditional instruments used in a kirtan.
In the movie, Roberts plays the role of Elizabeth Gilbert, a disillusioned woman who stays at an ashram as part of her round-the-world quest to discover herself. There, she struggles to learn a 182-verse Sanskrit shloka and even scrubs temple floors as part of her devotional duties.
Sources say some of the ashram scenes will be shot in Gurgaon when Julia visits India later in the year.