BIKRAM: YOGI, GURU, PREDATOR: Hot Yoga Doc Makes Your Blood Run Cold
He could’ve been the Arnold Schwarzenegger of yoga, an immigrant who achieved the American dream and built a following through a unique skill set. Coming from India to the USA in the early 70’s, Bikram Choudhury “devised” a style of hot yoga, which rapidly found success as practitioners and aspiring teachers flocked to his massive studio in L.A..
Bikram Yoga is said to have reached half a billion people around the world and has been publicly mentioned by very famous folks, including George Clooney, Kim Kardashian and Charles Barkley. There’s likely even Bikram yoga classes available near where you are right now.
A convincing, damning critique
As many of his female students experienced, though, Bikram Choudhury was actually nothing more than a creep who exploited his power to sexually abuse them. Oscar-winning producer Eva Orner crafts a portrait of manipulation that’s both engrossing and gross, a narrative more pertinent than ever in the era of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
The disgraced yoga teacher himself isn’t interviewed for the film and likely out of choice by the filmmaker, who wants to build her film around the testaments of his victims, particularly considering the disgusting responses he’s given before to defend himself. Orner accesses the deposition videos, wherein Bikram pathetically pleads the fifth to every question asked about his offences.
Former yoga teacher Sara Vaughn is one such victim with a vital perspective; her memories of his advances are so vivid, so uncomfortable and important to listen to, and impossible to doubt, especially as individuals who weren’t abused, including medical personnel Liz Winfield and fellow student Jakob Schanzer, speak of a highly suspect, nefarious nature to their narcissistic old leader.
More twisted than a yoga pose
The cult of personality travelled across borders, as Mandeep Kaur Sandhu, an Indian studio owner, came to America inspired by the achievements of this yogi, this guru, this – as she’d learn first-hand – predator. Another yoga teacher, Larissa Anderson, bravely shares the horrifying details of her assault. I must say, on the other hand of their disturbing memories, it’s heartening to see such women continue to be teachers and studio owners after all that’s happened.
Beyond the sickening sexual violations described, Orner‘s compilation of archive shows her subject to be an unbearable being in general. From his aggressive, crudely vocalised methods of exercise, which entailed sexist and racist language, to telling an ABC news anchor, “I’m the most spiritual man you’ve ever met in your life, but you are not educated, smart, intelligent, wise, experienced enough to understand who I am”, he’s a detestable individual who’s more twisted than his yoga poses.
One of the worst moments, which you may have already seen, is a CNN interview wherein he denies sex assault allegations by saying he wouldn’t need to do such a thing because, if he wanted to have sex, there’s millions of women around the world who would freely volunteer themselves to him.
Aesthetically, Orner’s film resembles the average Netflix original documentary – a pretty good average compared to the service’s own fiction output – with rich production values for talking heads and a wealth of expensive archive, underscored by tonally apt compositions. It’s recommended if you were absorbed by fare such as Fyre and Wild Wild Country.
Conclusion: Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator
As for the potential of a psychological probe into Bikram’s mind, Orner increasingly drifts far away from such a prospect. In the first act, her contributors speak of a quixotic sense of community that he fostered but the filmmaker refuses to examine it further, spotting too many red flags that mystify her (and us) from understanding his allure. Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator takes a single-minded approach, only interested in exposing the moral and legal transgressions of the subject, and the case is beyond convincing.
Whilst many true crime stories leave you with some hope, this one concludes with a chilling sequence of images that imply the cycle may continue. Here’s hoping Orner’s renewal of the conversation makes an impact.
Have you seen Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator yet? What did you think?
Bikram: Yogi, Guru Predator is available globally on Netflix.
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