About 9 km past Bhowali, the road from Nainital to Almora winds through forest and turns back on itself in two sharp hairpin bends. Beside the bends is Kainchi Dham, a Hanuman temple and the ashram of spiritual guru Neem Karoli Baba, on whose following thousands of devotees visit this relatively quieter stretch of the Kumaon hills.
In local dialect, kainchi – the Hindi word for scissors – is the word for such bends, and the place takes its name from them, according to the Nainital district administration.
The film, made on a small budget, opened quietly on 250 screens on August 7. By September 11, it was running on 2,000 screens and had grossed ₹ 200 crore in India, news agency PTI reported. A 2010 Good Morning America interview quotes Hollywood actor Julia Roberts as saying that a photograph of Neem Karoli Baba drew her to Hinduism.
PTI said cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma are among his devotees.
The shrine, which was drawing crowds even before the film, saw a surge in the number of visitors this month, with the rush linked to Hanuman Ansh , a film directed by Dr Vishal Chaturvedi on the life of Neem Karoli Baba.
