Reports of Osho’s role in filmmaker Vijay Anand’s marriage disputed

Chaitanya Keerti, who knew both filmmaker Vijay Anand and his niece Sushma personally at Osho’s ashram, has disputed a recent Indian Express report claiming Osho advised the marriage between them

An article published by Screen, part of The Indian Express, on 4 August 2026 stated that Bollywood director Vijay Anand married his niece, Sushma, in 1978 “on Osho Rajneesh’s advice”, and that Osho told him to “go ahead” with the marriage. The article draws on interviews with the couple’s son, Vaibhav Anand, and with Ashok Sinha, the secretary of Vijay’s brother, Dev.

Swami Chaitanya Keerti, who was present at the ashram in Pune during the period in question and knew both Vijay Anand and Sushma personally, has stated that this account is only partly accurate.

According to Keerti, Vijay Anand did visit the ashram in the 1970s and did, during that time, marry Loveleen Thadani, a marriage that ended within weeks. He continued visiting the ashram for some years afterwards, at times accompanied by his niece Sushma.

Keerti recalls: “The three of us often met at the Boat Club for chai and snacks, or dinner, and had many intellectual discussions about creativity and the role of visualisation.”

Some time later, Vijay Anand became drawn to the teacher UG Krishnamurti, left Osho’s sannyas, and stopped coming to the ashram. It was only after this that he married Sushma.

Keerti states that Osho had no role in this marriage, and that Osho was on record ridiculing this type of unconventional match; he was also critical, in his discourses, of marriage as an institution more broadly.

The claim that Osho advised or encouraged the marriage to Sushma therefore appears to be inaccurate, as the marriage took place after Vijay Anand had already stopped visiting Osho’s ashram.

Filmmaker Vijay Anand, who died in 2004 at the age of 70, is remembered for directing some Bollywood classics like Guide, Teesri Manzil, Jewel Thief, among many other films, and is often named amongst the greatest filmmakers of all time in Hindi cinema.