In the late 1960s, Ram Dass brought a group of westerners to India to meet his Guru Neem Karoli Baba, also known as Maharaji. In this breathtaking biopic, viewers will get a rare glimpse into the years following, and the life-changing journey that would later influence an entire generation of spiritual seekers. The film is set in the stunning backdrop of India with rare archival footage that allows the world to peek into the profound alteration of these young lives. The film tells the story of Maharaji leaving his body and instructing his close disciple, K.C. Tewari, to care for these westerners, creating an unbreakable bond for those seekers who journeyed to India.

In the years after K.C.'s passing, this group of westerners, including Krishna Das and Raghu Markus, come together for the first time to share the remarkable story of K.C. Tewari’s life, much of which was hidden in plain view from the rest of the world. Once the filmmakers confirmed the existence of video footage of K.C. during this time, the film began to take shape. Brilliant Disguise offers a rare glimpse into this culture-shifting experience, and features never-before-scene footage from this time, including their trip to the 1989 Kumbh Mela, a spiritual gathering attended by more than 25 million people.

K.C. was a fascinating example of a high Yogi who also lived amongst others in this worldly life as a family man and school teacher. His ability to go into, “Samadhi” –a deep trance-like state, known as the highest form of consciousness one can achieve through meditation–mirrored what Ram Dass always said was possible through the practice – the ability to inhabit more than one plane of consciousness at the same time.

Through K.C. Tewari’s story, this film will inspire the next generation of seekers to the limitless possibilities we have in this life to achieve higher states of consciousness through deep devotion, practice and grace. It also serves as a never-before-seen look into how Maharaji and his closest devotees helped shift the wellbeing and spiritual perspective of an entire generation.

For me, meeting and experiencing K.C. Tewari in America was a true delight and it resonated for years after he left us. When a film about his life and practices was first contemplated, it seemed like an obvious opportunity for an innovative yet personal biopic. I felt that a film of his extraordinary life would appeal to anyone who wanted to encounter a being who embodied an intense commitment to transcendent states of consciousness while living the normal life of a teacher, husband and father. I was driven to show people that such incarnations actually exist despite the fact, as in the case of K.C. Tewari, he was “hidden from view” by his very special disguise.

I had seen a good amount of archival footage of Mr. Tewari, and therefore was confident that a movie about him would ring with its very own authenticity. I also knew that some of his best Western friends would be happy and willing to recollect his place in their lives on camera. And so, voila, a film started to form in my mind and I was quickly buoyant about capturing his essence and gestalt on film.

I never met anyone remotely like him and deeply sensed that it would be a grand service to show his unique vibration and expressive charisma in a film. My love and respect for him made the trajectory of actually making the film about him a true labor of love.

David Silver

Raghu Markus - Producer
Raghu Markus spent two years in India with Maharaji and Ram Dass. He has been involved in music and transformational media since the early 1970s when he was program director of CKGM-FM in Montreal. In 1974 he collaborated with Ram Dass on the box set, Love Serve Remember. In 1990, Markus launched Triloka Records and Karuna Music in Los Angeles, California. Triloka established itself as a critical leader in the development of world music and for 17 years was home to such artists as Krishna Das, Hugh Masekela, Walela, and Jai Uttal. He produced transformational media projects that featured Ram Dass, Deepak Chopra and Les Nubians. Markus is the executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation. In 2016, he co-founded the Be Here Now Podcast Network and hosts Here & Now with Ram Dass as well as his own Mindrolling podcast. He is also the producer of the Ram Dass documentary Becoming Nobody.

David Silver - Director
David Silver’s #1 charting MGM/UA/Warners film, “The Compleat Beatles” is the critically acclaimed biopic about history’s most famous band. Rolling Stone recently described the film as a “master work.” His Warner Brothers’ feature film, “No Nukes” helped start the whole trend of music/activism feature documentaries. Twenty years later, David’s film about the teen band Hanson was the fastest selling home video of all time. David has been responsible for three Billboard #1 charting home videos.In 2008/09, David worked as the consultant to Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock.”

David Silver has produced, directed or written films about The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Timothy Leary, Joey Ramone, and many others.

David started his unorthodox media career, hosting his own talk show out of PBS premier station WGBH-TV in Boston: the weekly nonconformist, Zeitgeist-saturated talk show, “What’s Happening Mr. Silver?” is considered to be the only authentic sixties counter-cultural broadcast TV series and way ahead of its time. Abbie Hoffman was David’s first guest, William F. Buckley Jr. his second…

The Love Serve Remember Foundation is dedicated to preserving and continuing the teachings of Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass. The foundation facilitates the continuation of these teachings through online courses, blog content, films, podcasts, social network channels, and collaborative projects with conscious artists and musicians.
Love Serve Remember launched the Be Here Now Network to support today’s rapidly expanding new generation of spiritual seekers with accessible platforms to propel these teachings into the future. One of the most important things to Ram Dass over these many years is to share what he received from his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, on his first trip to India. It was through this intent that the Be Here Now Network was born.
The Be Here Now Network offers weekly doses of digestible Eastern philosophy from a range of spiritual teachers in the form of mindfulness podcasts, articles and videos. The “Be Here Now” adage is an important aphorism from Ram Dass and serves as a mantra for those on their own path towards self-discovery.