Long before he became one of the most famous filmmakers in Hindi, Mahesh Bhatt he went through a very transformative phase of spirituality as a follower of the god Rajneesh, popularly known as Osho. His relationship with the Pune-based guru eventually ended abruptly, leading to a heartbreak that his daughter, Pooja Bhatt, still remembers vividly.Pooja recalled the strange events that happened when her father decided to leave Rajneesh’s group. “My father was part of Rajneesh’s sect. He removed his mala from his neck and threw it in the toilet,” recalled Pooja. “Then he was banned. He was a terrorist. I remember the message coming to my mother through Vinod Khanna‘Bhagwan is very angry. Bhagwan will destroy Mahesh.’ When I was a child, we were taken to a safe house in Pune in the middle of the night,” he added in an interview with Cyrus Broacha.Pooja went on to compare Osho’s reaction to a “jilted fan”, saying that it was difficult to accept his followers leaving him. “He didn’t like people leaving him. The same with Ma Sheela. The threat at the end of the day is, ‘Why don’t you put me on the ground?’ “Whether you are a god or a politician, you want people to worship you,” said Pooja Ma Anand Sheela he became one of Osho’s biggest supporters for several years.Reminiscing about her childhood visits to the ashram, Pooja shared some of the activities that fans got to see. “I have been to the Osho ashram. I have touched Osho’s feet as a child. They smell you because Bhagwan would not like any smell because his aura will spread. You cannot use perfume or shampoo,” revealed Pooja. The Osho ashram is located in Pune’s Koregaon Park. Mahesh Bhatt has previously spoken about what drew him to Osho. After his films ‘Manzilien Aur Bhi Hain’ (1974) and ‘Vishwasghaat’ (1977) failed commercially, he said he found himself seeking answers through cinema.“I went to Osho Rajneesh, who was a charismatic teacher from Pune. I went to him and surrendered to him … ocher robes and meditation five times a day,” said Mahesh in an appearance on Arbaaz Khan’s chat.Explaining what led him to leave the group, the filmmaker admitted that he could no longer reconcile his inner feelings with the spiritual image he was trying to create. “I thought I was still feeling jealous but I’m saying clean words… I feel like a hypocrite. “This is nonsense; I’m such a fool,” he recalled telling Vinod Khanna, his long-time colleague, who also introduced him to Osho. Mahesh later reflected on Vinod Khanna’s decision to stay with Osho even after he decided to leave.“When I turned around, he stayed – and then he disappeared in Oregon. I even went to America once, to try to bring him back. But he was too far gone,” Mahesh recalled. Vinod Khanna left the film industry in the early 1980s to join Osho’s retreat in Oregon before returning to the film industry years later.