Transfixed on a friend’s promise of a New York penthouse, a red Mercedes and an endless chorus line of blonde Baywatch babes, India’s lord of the dance is going to make it big in America.

But the road to fame in New York is no magic carpet ride and Ramu winds up juggling the waiter’s tray at an Indian restaurant and any audition that comes along.

When Dwain (Michael McKean) of Ramrod Productions calls, Ramu’s naked enthusiasm swiftly turns to stagefright when he discovers he is the unwitting star of an adult movie. A shy Ramu cannot rise to the occasion and despite sexual enlightenment from his co-star Sharonna (Heather Graham,) quickly finds himself jobless on all fronts.

Desperate, he shows up unannounced at a birthday party catered by his former boss for New Age therapy-crazed socialite Lexi (Marisa Tomei). But whilst he starts off as a waiter he soon finds himself thrust into a new role when the guru employed for the party falls down drunk.

The impromptu curtain call leaves him scrabbling for words of wisdom. All he can conjure up is Sharonna’s peculiar take on improving one’s “performance.” Like a genie in a bottle, those words magically rock this crowd’s inner beat and transform an inexperienced Ramu into The Guru of sex.

A smitten Lexi embarks on a quest to heal the world with her latest discovery, while that discovery embarks on a quest of his own -- to tap an unsuspecting Sharonna for a little more “soulful” wisdom, enlightening his path to fame and fortune. Suddenly the former dance teacher becomes student to the porn star but she has secrets of her own.

Nothing is what it seems in this fish-out-of-water, cross-cultural comedy of misguided love.

Universal Pictures and Working Title Films present The Guru, starring Heather Graham, Marisa Tomei, Jimi Mistry, Christine Baranski, Michael McKean, Malachy McCourt, Rob Morrow and Thomas McCarthy. Directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer from an original screenplay by Tracey Jackson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Michael London are the producers; Shekhar Kapur, Liza Chasin and Debra Hayward are the executive producers. John de Borman is director of photography, Mary Ann Kellogg is the choreographer, Robin Standefer is the production designer, Michael Clancy is the costume designer and Bruce Green is the editor.