Retired Army Colonel Who Ran Secretive Intelligence Unit Plays Neem Karoli Baba in Hit Film

In an unusual crossover between military service and cinema, retired Army officer Colonel Munishwar Nath Bakshi — popularly known as Colonel Hunny Bakshi — has appeared on screen as the spiritual saint Neem Karoli Baba in the 2026 biographical drama Hanuman Ansh, drawing attention for the sharp contrast between his decorated military past and his new on-screen role.

Colonel Bakshi, a recipient of the Vishisht Seva Medal, was commissioned into the Army’s Intelligence Corps in December 1988 after training at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. Over his career, he served on assignments tied to Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, and commanded a Military Intelligence unit in Kolkata between 2007 and 2010, before going on to head the Technical Support Division (TSD) — an ad hoc unit set up for sensitive intelligence operations that has since drawn considerable public attention.

In Hanuman Ansh, written and directed by Vishal Chaturvedi, Bakshi appears in a brief framing sequence as the older Maharaj Ji, while actor Shobhinaw Satyaa plays the younger Neem Karoli Baba across the rest of the film. According to reports, Bakshi’s journey into the project began when he approached Chaturvedi with a script of his own, and his resemblance to the late saint caught the director’s attention.

Made on a modest budget of roughly ₹1.8–2 crore, the film has turned into one of the year’s biggest surprise hits, crossing ₹350 crore worldwide by late September and continuing to draw audiences into its seventh week — a run that has also renewed public interest in Neem Karoli Baba’s life and legacy.

Neem Karoli Baba, born Lakshman Narayan Sharma around 1900 in Uttar Pradesh’s Akbarpur village, became one of independent India’s most globally influential spiritual figures. His Kainchi Dham ashram drew Western seekers for decades, and his teachings later found an unlikely link to Silicon Valley — the Indian Express, citing Steve Jobs’s 1985 interview with Playboy, has reported on how the Apple co-founder’s visit to Kainchi Dham during his 1974 trip to India shaped his outlook, even though Jobs never met the saint himself, who had died the previous year.

Since retiring from the Army, Colonel Bakshi has built a second public profile as a commentator on defence and national security matters, and has spoken about writing scripts for web series and other creative projects. Reports suggest he could return in a bigger role should a planned sequel to Hanuman Ansh go ahead.