Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator *** / *****
Directed by: Eva
Orner.
In 2018,
ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcasts did a five-part series on Bikram Choudhury – one of
the biggest names in Yoga, who helped grow Yoga immensely in America, became a
millionaire many times over because of it, and was a charismatic figure that
inspired loyalty in many. It also documented Bikram’s downfall – as multiple
women came forward with rape and sexual harassment allegations – which didn’t
really destroy Bikram’s empire – he isn’t in jail, he’s never been even been
charged and the one civil case he lost, he hasn’t paid the damages awarded, in
large part because he just fled America, and good luck collecting when that
happens. He still runs his empire, he still runs his “teacher trainings” –
which was one of the places he used as his hunting grounds for victims, whom he
would groom. It was a massive project from the podcast – which until then had
just done standalone episodes – and it took a subject that honestly I knew next
to nothing about (and didn’t think I cared at all) – and made it fascinating.
Eva Orner’s documentary on the same subject is kind of like the Coles Notes
version of that podcast (the two are not affiliated in anyway) – running a
fleet 85 minutes, and basically trying to run through everything the podcast
did in much more detail.
For
people who listened to the Podcast – and it was a popular podcast – I don’t
think you will really learn anything you didn’t already know watching the
documentary – and yet, I still think there is some value to the doc, if for no
other reason that you get to match faces to names and voices, and see some
footage that of course you couldn’t have in a podcast. It isn’t as good as Alex
Gibney’s The Inventor – which was kind of the Coles notes version of a book AND
a podcast on Elizabeth Holmes – in part because the story isn’t as deep, and
the footage isn’t as great – but it’s the same basic thing.
The film
basically starts with a very quick overview of Bikram’s rise to fame – the
story he told to become rich and famous, all the TV appearances he made. It
also has a lot of his students singing his praises – singing the praises of
what Bikram calls his specific style, which he argues should be eligible for
copyright protection – as he had 26 specific poses, and two breathing
techniques. The people who love Bikram yoga, really love it – even as they
describe their first encounters with it – in scorching hot rooms, with Bikram
both encouraging and tormenting them – as hell.
The title
of the documentary though lets us know that this isn’t going to be a
documentary about a success story – and so it isn’t. The film will eventually
turn darker, and allow some of the women who Bikram abused over time to take
center stage and tell their story. Bikram still has his supporters – hell, one
of them is in this documentary, who says near the end the only reason why she
agreed to be in the documentary is talk about the wonderful effects of Bikram’s
yoga. Still, you can just watch these women tell their stories, and know they
are true. And then what really seals Bikram’s fate is the depositions for a
lawsuit, where he hangs himself over and over again – and that doesn’t even
count the number of times he takes the fifth.
I’m not
really sure what Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator really adds to the overall
conversation though. The podcast was much more in depth, and we’ve seen many
other documentaries in recent years about charismatic people, using that power
to abuse women for years, and get away with it – and Bikram’s story is no
different. You want it to go deeper – the podcast is proof that it could have –
but this film is content to stay on the surface – be one of those docs you catch
on Netflix that enrage you, before you forget about a week later.
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