Hanuman Ansh boosts spiritual tourism, footfall at Neem Karoli Baba temples up 3x: Director Vishal Chaturvedi at WION summit
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Hanuman Ansh boosts spiritual tourism, footfall at Neem Karoli Baba temples up 3x: Director Vishal Chaturvedi at WION summit")
Director Vishal Chaturvedi at WION summit Photograph: (X)
Hanuman Ansh director Dr Vishal Chaturvedi spoke at the WION Iconic Tourism Summit and Awards 2026 about the film's unexpected success and its impact on spiritual tourism.
Hanuman Ansh's success has been seen as a miracle no one saw coming, and while the entire team is celebrating its blockbuster run, the man behind the movie, director Dr Vishal Chaturvedi, spoke about the film, its impact on spiritual tourism, and how it has put India on the global map. He said footfall at places linked to Neem Karoli Baba has increased after the film's release.
Speaking at the WION Iconic Tourism Summit and Awards 2026, presented by VFS Global in association with Red Hat Communications, Chaturvedi spoke about the global following of spiritual guru Neem Karoli Baba, which spans continents and includes celebrities such as cricketer Virat Kohli, his wife Anushka Sharma, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Director Vishal Chaturvedi on Hanuman Ansh's global dominance and rooted storytelling
On being asked if rooted, cultural stories push India's soft power globally, especially after Hanuman Ansh's worldwide launch, Dr Vishal Chaturvedi said:
"First of all, I have to owe it to Neem Karoli Baba Maharaj Ji. Because his following is across the world. You see, there are Chinese, they don't understand Hindi or English, they follow Shri Neem Karoli Baba Maharaj. And somehow the entire Silicon Valley, I heard this from people that they find random people from random ethnicity. They have Maharajji's photograph on their mobile phone, as their wallpaper."
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‘’Now comes the rooted storytelling. We Indians are Indians first. And no matter what we wear, no matter how we talk, whether in English or any other language, when we go home, we become Indians first, right? We are very relaxed and talk to our family in our own language. Whenever we talk about our own roots in very simplified ways, because we are taught to be simple always, like how we save money on small things, and cooperate with things, our emotional attachment to small things happens. These are small little things which we all carry as Indian or as Bharati across the world. That's what works,'' he said.
He said the kind of response the film is getting, especially in North America and New Zealand, is massive.
The kind of response we are getting across the world, especially in North America and New Zealand. These are the countries where we are getting a very, very good response. Everyday numbers are doubling sort of things. Shows were two, and now they have become four. That is happening because there is a belief system and huge popularity of Neem Karoli Baba in Silicon Valley. In the Bay Area, it's massive," he added.
Hanuman Ansh spiritual impact
When asked if more films like Hanuman Ansh need to be made and whether its impact on spiritual tourism was planned, Dr Chaturvedi said:
"In the end of the film, there is a 7-minute long end credit where we have actually mentioned each and every temple which was created by Maharaj. Apart from Kainchi Dham, there is Kakarighat temple, there is Hanumangarhi temple, there is a temple right here in Birla Hanuman temple. There is another temple in Delhi, which was established by Maharaj Ji. Then his Samadhi Sthal is Vrindavan, then Akbarpur where he was born, Neen Karori is in Farrukhabad, which is not Kainchi Dham, people get confused. We have listed and put the pictures of these places, also across the world, wherever their temples are, so that people can know about this place."
Speaking about the increase in footfall at Neem Karoli Baba temples up 3x, the director said, “Somebody was telling me, via some news, I got to know this, and I am not quoting it from my own personal knowledge, that the footfall in these temples has increased by three times after the film's release.”
