By the mid 1960s, Charlie Chaplin – the man George Bernard Shaw called ‘the only genius to come out of the movie industry’ – was well into the twilight of his 75 year career. Having directed, produced, acted, edited and written sound scores for hundreds of films going back to 1914, Charlie Chaplin was a world-wide superstar. But it wasn’t until 1966 that a young Ashok S. Aswani, now an Ayurvedic practitioner form the town of Adipur in Gujarat, first laid eyes on the man that was to become his hero.

In rural Gujarat Atul Loke found himself part of an unusual celebration as hundreds of people, inspired by Dr. Aswani, gathered to pay homage to Charlie Chaplin. Video, stills and editing by Atul Loke.