Back in August, when Eat, Pray, Love was just about to start filming in New York, several prominent Hindu leaders took to the media to complain that the book – and now the movie – was in danger of showing a bastardized version of Hinduism in an attempt to rebrand the ancient religion as some trendy New Age crap. The leaders were doing some kind of pre-emtive strike against the movie, which at the time had yet to begin filming in India. My thoughts last month werethat if you found the book offensive to your religion, you would probably find the film offensive. The source material is what should be criticized, in my opinion, rather than the film.

Of course, I thought that before the film crew closed down a Hindu temple for filming right before Navratri. And before Julia Roberts hired a reported 350-person large security staff to protect her and her family. 350 security people? Seriously, Julia? Is she creating a human barricade around her hotel? The BBC has more:

Villagers in India have accused the Hollywood superstar, Julia Roberts, of interrupting one of their most important religious festivals.

They say that her huge film set in the town of Pataudi near Delhi has prevented them from celebrating the Navratri religious festival.

The Pretty Woman star used the Hari Mandir temple to shoot scenes of her new film, Eat, Pray, Love. Neither Ms Roberts nor the film makers has commented on the claims.

A spokeswoman for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns the production company making the film, told the BBC they did not want to say anything about the allegations.

Some locals are unhappy the actress is using the temple during the festival of Navratri, marked by Hindus through nine days of worship of the Goddess Durga.

Police say they are under strict orders to stop devotees from entering the temple while filming is under way because of security considerations.

The restrictions come at a sensitive time because a number of Hindu festivals take place in the autumn. One worshipper said: “It’s the holiest time of the year and we are being stopped from visiting our own temple. It’s outrageous.”

Eyebrows have also been raised at the scale of the security operation to guard the Hollywood star – some newspapers have described it as “presidential”.

Reports say she is also using a bullet proof car and a helicopter for protection.

Up until now, the star of Erin Brockovich and Notting Hill has been seen as one of the West’s most “Hindu-friendly” actors, even sporting a bindi spot during a visit to India earlier this year.

In Eat, Pray, Love, Ms Roberts plays a woman hoping to find herself in Hindu spirituality after experiencing a traumatic divorce. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert.

[From BBC]

As much as I would love to give Julia a good thump for the closing of the Hindu temple, it’s not really her fault. I lay the blame at the producers who organized the film shoot at the temple during an important Hindu festival, and I blame whatever genius Hindu committee or organization for letting the film crew in. Someone had to give their permission, and that’s the person to blame. I will thump Julia for the 350-person security brigade. For goodness sake, she’s not shooting a film in the Northwest frontier, it’s just Delhi. Live a little, Julia. Mix with the locals for a day, it seriously won’t kill you.

Here’s Julia filming scenes on the set of “Eat, Pray, Love” in Rome on September 8th. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .