Director Matt Dougherty, E.P. Jane Campion Explore Riveting “Anti-Guru” U.G. Krishnamurti In ‘The Natural State’ – Telluride Film Festival
A new documentary, "The Natural State," about the Indian-born "anti-guru" U.G. Krishnamurti premieres at the Telluride Film Festival, directed by Matt Dougherty and executive produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jane Campion, who knew Krishnamurti personally. The film explores the contradictory legacy of a figure described variously as a teacher, philosopher and enlightened being, examining how his often harsh methods of dismantling followers' egos may have given them the spiritual freedom they sought.
The documentary draws heavily on footage and journals kept by Julie Thayer, a wealthy New York mother who abandoned her former life to follow Krishnamurti around the world, obsessively filming him until his death in 2007 aged 88. Dougherty spent roughly ten years bringing the project to completion after discovering Thayer's archive online, a process Campion likens to Ahab's pursuit of the white whale, joking she now calls him "Moby Matt". Campion recounts her own scepticism on first meeting Krishnamurti in Sydney, before describing a walk with him that left her with powerful, unexplained physical sensations she associates with a sense of transference and love.
In short
- Telluride premieres documentary on "anti-guru" U.G. Krishnamurti
- Jane Campion executive produces; she knew Krishnamurti personally
- Film built from follower Julie Thayer's decades of footage and journals
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters could argue that Krishnamurti’s confrontational methods were intended to unsettle followers’ dependence on spiritual authority and familiar ideas of self, helping some pursue the freedom they sought. The film’s personal archive and Campion’s account may illuminate why people found his presence transformative, even if the experience is difficult to explain.
The case against
Critics could argue that harshly challenging followers’ sense of self can create vulnerability and dependence rather than genuine freedom, especially when one person holds unusual influence over devoted followers. Personal testimony and an archive assembled by an obsessive admirer may show the intensity of those relationships without establishing that Krishnamurti’s methods were beneficial or that claims of spiritual transformation were well founded.
Explained simply
U.G. Krishnamurti was an Indian-born spiritual figure who rejected the role of guru and questioned established ideas about enlightenment. People who followed him have described his blunt, sometimes harsh approach in different ways: as a challenge to the ego, or as a difficult experience.
The documentary draws on films and journals made by Julie Thayer, who left her life in New York to travel with Krishnamurti and record him. Director Matt Dougherty spent about ten years making the film from her archive, with filmmaker Jane Campion, who met Krishnamurti, as executive producer. His life and the contrasting accounts of his influence raise questions about what followers sought from him and how they understood their experiences.