| Director | Sanjay Rawal |
|---|---|
| Genre | documentary film |
| Country | United States |
The subject of Challenging Impossibility is the weightlifting odyssey of Sri Chinmoy, a spiritual teacher who came from India to live in New York City and began lifting weights at the age of 54. The film features news footage and interviews with bodybuilders, strongmen, olympians, and biomechanics experts. The film follows a historical narrative that builds upon a public display of strength that Sri Chinmoy performed in 2004 at York College.
Starting out with basic dumbbells (40 lbs) in 1985, Sri Chinmoy quickly progressed to lift cars, planes and elephants in an effort to show how meditation can develop inner peace that can translate to tangible outer power and strength. Along Chinmoy’s journey of “self-transcendence” he honored and inspired individuals who have uplifted humanity by literally lifting them on a platform above the head in an award program titled "Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart". From its creating in 1987, Sri Chinmoy lifted over 7000 people, including Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu Muhammad Ali, Sting, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon, Roberta Flack, Yoko Ono, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Gere.
Chinmoy’s training culminated when he held a public demonstration of his feats of strength at age 73 in the presence of strength experts such as 5-time Mr. Universe Bill Pearl, 3-time Mr. Olympia Frank Zane, 2002 World’s Strongest Man Hugo Girard and 9-time Olympic Gold-Medalist Carl Lewis. In the film, Lewis described how when Sri Chinmoy lifted weights, “It’s like gravity stops”. Chinmoy’s lifts were featured on newscasts worldwide on outlets such as CNN, CNN International, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and numerous local affiliates. Chinmoy performed his own strenuous feats to spread his message of world harmony and inner peace, to inspire people to transcend their personal limitations and to abandon their concepts of the restrictions of physical age. Appearances in the film also include Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and Princess Diana.