(From top) Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Bikram Choudhury

Long hair, red shirt, maroon jacket, Michael Jackson cap and a dazzling diamond watch… A “superstar” of a different kind hit town this weekend.

Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury is as hot as ever with his brand of sweating it out finding followers around the world. GoodLife caught up with the man from Beverley Hills, who is yet to open up shop in town, over dinner at Oh! Calcutta...

Hot, hot, hot

The Yogiraj (as he calls himself) may have had his share of controversy, but Bikram’s yoga has managed to spread far and wide.

Hatha Yoga or “hot yoga” has its high-profile disciples — Madonna, Michael Jackson, Raquel Welch, Gwyneth Paltrow, John McEnroe... — and is now catching on closer home.

Well over 1,000 yoga studios bearing the Bikram brand name have spread across Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.

Another 1,000 are expected to be up by end-2007, with no concrete plans for India yet.

Mr Yogi

“Thousand stars make a superstar, and I am one,” proclaims the fitness freak. For Bikram, less is definitely not more. The man spares little thought for modesty as he flashes a smile and says, “I sell new life. My yoga is bigger than automobile, computers… I cure mentally, physically, spiritually.”

The Hollywood yoga guru takes pride in the fact that his studios are “torture chambers”.

He is even looking to shed the “Bill Gates of yoga” tag. “Bill Gates is only restricted to computers… I heal. I sell life.”

But don’t come to him for a quick fix. “The studio is not a regular ashram. There is no shortcut to hard work. If you don’t suffer, you do not achieve the best for yourself.”

Back to basics

Bikram sweats it out enough to deserve a treat once in a while, and that is what he got at Oh! Calcutta on Thursday, where he enjoyed a true-blue Bangali dinner of Kakra Chingri Bhapa, Gondhoraj Bhetki, Luchi, Aam Diye Phoolkopi, Kosha Mangsho, Chitol Machher Muitha, Pabda Shorshe Bata, Gurer Bhapa Sandesh and Kheer Komola.

Between bites at the Forum food stop, Bikram revealed plans of finally setting up a studio in Juhu, Mumbai. Calcutta, however, is still low on the priority list.

One reason is that the attitude to yoga here is different. “They think yoga is a 1,000-year old system and a yogi is all about saffron, tilak... There is nothing wrong with that. But yoga has its scientific base. People are ignorant. The thinking is why do we need his yoga when it has originated from India?”

Calcutta is still close to the flamboyant Yogiraj’s heart, and he is disappointed about the lack of Bikram studios in the city.

“People do not put their words into action. I do not have the time to build a school. Let someone do it, my trainees will fly in the next day,” he promises.

He has a few specifications, of course, amongst which are “a good space spread across 3,000 sq ft and the right kind of atmosphere”.

Controversy call

Be it the copyright bid or charges of violating the safety norms at his studio, the Beverly Hills man has no time for controversies. “When you are famous controversies are bound to follow you.”

A historical reference follows: “The Mahabharata had the Pandavas going through many ups and downs, but they emerged winners. Truth and honesty win.”

Idol’s idol

And who is this superstar’s superhero? Subhash Chandra Bose. “The way the man acted, reacted… there was no other Netaji. He is my inspiration. I read two pages on Bose every night. It’s like the Bible to me,” signs off Bikram.