A Soulful Beginning
Some films are not just stories – they are reminders. Yogi vs Bhogi, written and produced by Delhi-based Vandana Khaitan, opens with a soulful note that sets the tone for the entire narrative. We first encounter singer Siddharth Mohan, whose mellifluous bhajan fills the screen with devotion. It is his birthday, but instead of the usual grandeur, he reflects on what true celebration means: donating to the poor, funding the education of those who cannot afford it, feeding others with love, and singing bhajans in remembrance of God. The film immediately nudges us to rethink our priorities – are birthdays about indulgence, or about giving?
This reflective atmosphere soon contrasts sharply with the world of Siddharth’s fictional friend/brother Raj Singhania (played by an actor), a man driven by an insatiable obsession with money and power. While Siddharth embodies spirituality and service, Raj thrives on lies, fraud, and unethical ambition. Their lives are poles apart: one seeks truth and liberation, the other is enslaved to greed.
It is in this clash of values that the film introduces its central concept: Siddharth’s proposal to conduct spiritual workshops at Raj’s (fictional) company, Satya Group. What begins with junior executives evolves into a transformative dialogue about creating Raj Rishis – leaders who may live like kings outwardly, commanding success and wealth, but inwardly embody the simplicity, wisdom, and self-restraint of rishis.
Through Siddharth’s workshops, the film draws our attention to the crises plaguing society. Crime, corruption, and ignorance are symptoms of a collective obsession with money, power, and sensuality, with no space left for the pursuit of moksha. He reminds us that this world, mrityulok, is only a temporary dwelling, fraught with suffering and uncertainty, where natural calamities, diseases, or man-made disasters can end life in an instant. Our scriptures, he explains, speak of brahmalok, the eternal home of the soul, where there is no suffering, no death, only infinite peace and bliss. To reach there, one must live a life of simplicity, selflessness, and sadhana, accumulating punya that lifts the soul beyond the cycle of birth and death.
The Raj Rishi Path
The film’s message is driven home with both depth and creativity. In one striking experiment, Siddharth explains that all humans are made of cells, of the same protoplasm, proving that the soul within us is one. When we cheat another, we cheat ourselves; when we do good, we uplift ourselves. The idea of unity in diversity is not just philosophy here – it is biology.
The film also brings in a visually engaging metaphor through its “Fashion Show for the Soul.” Participants wear T-shirts bearing abbreviations like MAD (Making A Difference) and HEP (Highly Empowered Person), playful yet profound reminders of the soul’s true nature. It is a creative attempt to awaken audiences to the fact that beneath worldly identities, we are all divine souls, radiant with peace and bliss.
The film deepens its spiritual narrative through a series of three striking visualisations led by Siddharth. Each of these inner journeys is not just an exercise, but a profound mirror held up to the illusions of life in mrityulok.
The first visualisation asks everyone to close their eyes and see only the skeleton inside their body. Siddharth reminds them that all our lives are spent adorning this skeleton with fancy clothes, rich food, and luxuries – only to finally end up in fancy hospitals. This shocking realization that life is a fool’s paradise if lived in attachment, brings the gift of vairagya, or detachment. True identity is not this perishable body, but the indestructible, eternal soul. Our real treasure, Siddharth emphasises, is purity.
The second visualisation takes the audience even deeper – into the organs, the blood, the intricate network of vessels. Who, Siddharth asks, is orchestrating these miraculous functions? The reminder is powerful: this world is a grand drama directed by God, and we are but actors on His stage. The false ego of “I” and “my” dissolves in this vision, replaced with humility and surrender.
The third visualisation shifts the focus outward – to the lived reality of a person below the poverty line. Siddharth urges the participants to feel the struggles of those deprived of basic needs, pointing out how the wealthiest 1% rarely share their good fortune with the less fortunate. Yet, there are living examples of Raj Rishis in modern India – figures like Ratan Tata and Narayana Murthy, who combine worldly success with a spirit of service and giving.
The film goes beyond philosophy, calling for real change. It inspires vows to reject dowry, empower girls, and nurture future leaders – reminding us that the nation’s strength lies in valuing every daughter.
Choices and Consequences
At this point, the film introduces a moving musical interlude, a song that places the audience at the crossroads of choice: Do we wish to chase temporary pleasures, live like a bhogi, sell our soul, and end in disease? Or will we choose the path of the yogi – a life of simplicity, service, prayer, and sattvic joy?
From this spiritual inquiry, the narrative pivots sharply into a social critique. In a powerful scene, Siddharth’s fictional friend, Raj, asks his pregnant wife whether the ultrasound has revealed a boy or a girl. His disdain for having another girl child drives his wife into a nightmare – a haunting vision of a girl child crying out, begging not to be aborted. The anguish is palpable. The next day, we see her painting a lotus when Siddharth arrives. He gently explains the symbolism: the lotus blooms above the mud, untouched by its filth, teaching us to rise above worldly impurities. When he notices her distress, she confides the pressure to abort her child. In a pained revelation, she admits that many educated, affluent women are complicit in this sin of female feticide. Siddharth is shaken to witness the extent of moral decline in Kaliyug.
The film then grounds this issue in reality by cutting to Kiran Bedi’s talk show, where the grave consequences of female feticide are discussed. The imbalance it creates is not only demographic but also deeply social – men unable to find partners, escalating crimes against women, and the corrosion of family and community values.
The message of Vandana’s film is not just philosophical – it is designed to inspire collective action. In a stirring sequence, Kiran Bedi, Siddharth Mohan, and the audience take vows together, promising never to give or accept dowry, never to engage in female feticide, to educate girls, to make them independent, to conduct simple marriages, and to take responsibility for the education of poor girls. This moment stands out as a call to transform society at its roots. The film reminds us that India has been the birthplace of countless great female leaders, including Kiran Bedi herself, and that nurturing girls is essential for the nation’s future.
Adding depth, filmmaker Vandana Khaitan herself appears on screen alongside Siddharth, in a talk show format. Vandana emphasises the need to inculcate values early through “value vaccination,” beginning right from the womb stage with Garbhadān and Garbha Saṃskāra.
Here she speaks directly to the audience about weaving spiritual focus into every sphere of life – be it family, education, or business. The emphasis is on creating values and sanskāras that sustain society for generations.
From Darkness to Light
But the narrative does not shy away from showing harsh realities. In one shocking turn, Raj Singhania’s wife is diagnosed as HIV positive. Her prayerful response is one of deep surrender: she asks God for prasād buddhi – the wisdom to remember Him in both good and bad times. She accepts her suffering as the unfolding of karmic law, believing that bad times burn away the residue of past misdeeds. Her resilience embodies the strength that comes from spiritual grounding.
As fate unfolds, Raj Singhania faces the collapse of his empire. His fraudulent companies disintegrate, he resigns as CEO, and is eventually jailed. The man who once chased wealth, women, and power is left stripped of everything. In a poignant scene, Siddharth visits him in prison. It is here, in his lowest moment, that Raj finally confronts his emptiness. Siddharth does not condemn him; instead, he leads him gently into a meditation on the eternal question: Who am I?
Through this practice, Siddharth reminds Raj that he is not the perishable body, but the infinite, immortal soul. Together, they begin chanting the mantra OM. The resonance of this sacred syllable becomes a cleansing balm – washing away mental impurities, lifting layers of negativity, and opening the heart to peace. Siddharth also explains how even modern science has begun to acknowledge the healing powers of mantra chanting, meditation, and sound vibrations in transforming the mind, aura, and inner state.
The film culminates in a powerful, meditative climax with the chanting of Om Nam Ke Heere Moti – a soulful reminder that in the end, it is not wealth, status, or pleasure that defines us, but the purity of the soul, the power of service, and the eternal connection to the Divine. The film ultimately leaves the viewer with a piercing question: Yogi bano ya Bhogi – the choice is yours.
To watch the film Yogi vs Bhogi go to the Vandekrsna channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=alAqIH3BovtXt8oL&v=-4yI6MkAxM0&feature=youtu.be.
The book ‘Yogi vs Bhogi’ is also available on Amazon India.
