Some films begin with a great idea. Others feel as though they were waiting for the right person to tell their story.
Hanuman Ansh, one of 2026’s surprise successes, belongs to the second category. Inspired by the life and teachings of Neem Karoli Baba, the film has connected with audiences across India in a way few expected.
Made on a reported budget of about ₹2 crore, the film has reportedly earned more than ₹190 crore in India. Yet the numbers are only one part of the story. The more remarkable journey is how the film came into existence.
It began with an unexpected question
At the centre of the story is Anupriya Nagar, a 21-year-old Economics graduate from the University of Bath in the UK.
She had never planned to become a filmmaker.
While researching Steve Jobs for a university assignment, Anupriya discovered that the Apple co-founder had travelled to India and felt a deep spiritual connection with Neem Karoli Baba.
One question stayed with her: why was a man who helped change the world so strongly influenced by an Indian spiritual master?
Curiosity became a calling
Anupriya began reading about Maharaj Ji. What started as academic curiosity gradually became personal. She spent nearly a year researching his life, visiting places connected with him and speaking to people who had known or encountered him.
At first, she considered telling the story through a book or comic. Eventually, the idea became a film—and her life took an unexpected turn.
From an idea to a film
After returning to India, Anupriya invested savings from three years of part-time work in the UK into the project. She had no previous filmmaking experience, but she believed deeply in the story.
She joined filmmaker Vishal Chaturvedi, who became the film’s writer, director and one of its producers. Producers Namrata G. Singh and Ragini Sona, executive producer Piyush Thakur and a wider team helped bring the project together.
The team spent months researching Neem Karoli Baba and the people and places connected with his life.
There were no major stars, no enormous production budget and no large studio machine—only a small group determined to tell a story they believed in. That simplicity may have become one of the film’s greatest strengths.
The unexpected choice for the central role
The production then faced another sudden turn. The actor originally selected to portray Neem Karoli Baba became seriously ill at the beginning of the shoot.
The film could have stopped there. Instead, Vishal Chaturvedi looked within the team and approached Shobhinaw Satyaa, then working as a second assistant director.
Shobhinaw was meant to work behind the camera, not lead the film. After an audition reportedly lasting nearly five hours, he was chosen to portray Neem Karoli Baba.
Vihaan Shedge portrays the younger Maharaj Ji, while Chandan Anand, Purnima Tiwari and Anil Rastogi are among the principal cast.
There is something poetic in how the pieces came together. The man who was not meant to play Baba became the film’s central figure. The young woman who never planned to make a film became its producer. A university assignment became a cinematic journey watched by millions.
The real story behind the box-office success
Hanuman Ansh is clearly a box-office story, but beneath the figures is a simpler progression:
- Curiosity became research.
- Research became faith.
- Faith became a film.
The film has now carried Neem Karoli Baba’s story far beyond the places where his physical life unfolded.
Anupriya has said that she wanted younger generations to discover Maharaj Ji through his own story. She has also described the film’s success as something much bigger than herself, attributing it to Maharaj Ji’s blessings.
Perhaps that is why Hanuman Ansh has connected with so many people. At its heart, this is not simply a story about making a successful movie. It is about following a feeling before knowing where it will lead.
Sometimes a question becomes a calling. Sometimes a coincidence becomes a turning point. And sometimes the story finds its storyteller.
Jai Shri Ram. Jai Hanuman. 🙏
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