Toronto: Since Eva Orner’s documentary film, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) on September 9, about six women have written directly, privately to her to share their stories, saying how they too were sexually abused by Bikram Choudhury. These women have not spoke out publicly yet, and most hadn’t seen the film. They had just read about it.
Therein lies the power of Orner’s 86-minute film, which is, at one level, a sharp, objective examination of the cult, clout and ugly narcissism of Bikram Choudhury, and at another an investigation into the accusations against him.
Orner calls the film a “pre-MeToo story showing in a post-MeToo world”. The film uses archival footage of Choudhury conducting his hot yoga classes where the temperature remained constant, at 40 degree centigrade, and Bikram the guru was equally unrelenting.
In the 90-minute classes, which he conducted wearing a Speedo and a Rolex, the cult of Bikram and his yoga was shaped and sharpened. Here, as students were pushed to their limit to master 26 postures and two breathing techniques, they were first broken down, and then rebuilt.
In 2006, Choudhury had more than 600 yoga studios worldwide, and about 40 Bentleys and Rolls-Royces were parked in his Beverly Hills mansion.
Though Choudhury would, at times during the class, press himself inappropriately against some of the women students, it was mostly at night, when he had retired to his Presidential Suite in the hotel, that he would summon a girl to massage him and he would either guide her hand or force himself upon them.
As the film unravels, we find Choudhury when questioned about the three things he dislikes, saying it’s actually four things: “Cold food, cold weather, cold heart”, and , “cold p***y”.
Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator is a testament, a piece of evidence of who Bikram is and what he did. It’s also an inquiry into who you will believe.
