Yoga Samachar FW2014

Page 15

An Intimate Glimpse of Guruji FILMMAKERS JAKE AND LINDSEY CLENNELL CAPTURE UNIQUE AND INSPIRING FOOTAGE OF B.K.S IYENGAR—AN ELECTRIFYING TEACHER IN HIS MID-90S—AND SHOW HIS INFLUENCE ON COMMUNITIES AROUND THE GLOBE.

Photo by Lindsey Clennell

By Richard Jonas

T

he movie Jake Clennell is editing is not the one

moved into full-time yoga teaching, the two often returned to

he started shooting. First, the project made a

their dream of making a film about Guruji. Finally they asked

180-degree turnaround from his original

his permission. Mr. Iyengar gave his wholehearted approval—

intention; later, the movie—taking on a life of its

while pointing them in a different direction. So much has been

own—circled around again, ending just where it began.

done about me, he said; why not focus on my students instead? “It wasn’t what I wanted to hear,” Jake concedes, “but knowing

For years, Jake Clennell, director of Sadhaka: The Yoga of B. K. S.

enough about Guruji to pay extremely close attention to what

Iyengar, and his father Lindsey Clennell, senior teacher and the

he says, one did it. And it bore amazing fruit!”

film’s executive producer, contemplated a movie about their shared teacher and guru.

Jake recorded the stories of some of the students who had studied longest with Guruji, now longtime senior teachers

Now these two lives devoted to telling stories on film, two lives

themselves. Over three prolonged stays in India, Jake filmed

devoted to Iyengar Yoga—practice, study and, in Lindsey’s case,

Father Joe Pereira, the Roman Catholic priest, in his centers for

teaching—come together in Sadhaka. More than five years in

recovering addicts. He also visited the orphanage run by Miriam

production, a year in the shooting alone, crafted by two award-

“Mimi” Batliwala, where girls rescued from a Mumbai slum

winning documentary filmmakers, and drawing on

study Iyengar Yoga.

unparalleled access to the originating voices of the method, it is the most incisive, accurate, and comprehensive film view of

These stories highlight the 22-minute Sadhaka preview shown

Guruji and his method we’re likely to see.

at the IYNAUS convention and conference in San Diego last spring. Another 20,000 people have screened the trailer online

The story begins almost 40 years ago when Lindsey Clennell, a

at www.sadhakafilm.com. Initial funding for the film came

young filmmaker with music videos for the Rolling Stones and

from the Clennells and some of their students. Fifty-thousand

Elton John under his belt and a documentary about

dollars in donations to help complete the film have come in

Muhammad Ali in his future, made his first trip to the Iyengar

from 34 countries via an online funding campaign; donor

Yoga Institute in Pune. The following year, he and his wife

names are listed at the Sadhaka website. Another $120,000 is

Bobby returned to India, with five-year-old Jake and his brother

still needed for editing, post-production, and distribution. The

Miles, 10, making their debuts at RIMYI.

target release date is spring 2014.

Through the years, as Jake grew up and shaped a successful

But colorful and moving as it is, the early footage will only make

career as film director and cinematographer, and as Lindsey

up a small part of the completed feature-length documentary.

Fall 2013/Winter 2014 Yoga Samachar

13


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