sikhpride

Dr. Sarab Singh Neelam, a famous Gastroenterologist in Michigan (USA), was born in India in a Sikh family. His family consisted of people with imaginative minds. Whereas his father was a writer of poetry, his uncle was a painter. Thus, right from his childhood Neelam had a vivid imagination. During childhood, his grandmother who had suffered considerably during partition used to tell him the stories of brave Sikhs who sacrificed their life for the sake of their religion. At a very young age of 10 years, when his family shifted to Toronto, he started wearing turban. He was very fond of movies even in India and after settling at Toronto, he often used his super 8 camera in High School for making home movies. As he grew up, he studied medicine as per the wish of his parents and became a medical doctor. His profession as a practicing doctor flourished with passage of time, but, he was not satisfied with the inequities of health care system. He felt that it was more of a business than caring for the health of the people. However his childhood love for making movies changed into passion and he started taking classes in films. He desperately wanted to see Sikhs on screen. He made a documentary of his faith to educate others about Sikhism so that kids wouldn’t get teased as he was while growing up. Unfortunately political turmoil in India, the Middle East and 9/11 in America made the Sikhs feel as outcasts and terrorists. There were numerous episodes of hate crimes which continue to this day. Sikhs felt humiliated on screen, airports, jobs, schools and public places. So what started as a dream to make movies also became a desperate need and desire to be recognized as a human being with dignity. As a successful Doctor in Sikhi sarup and living in a gursikh way, he presented himself as a role-model. But, when after spending about 10 years he wrote, produced and directed a memorable film ‘Ocean of Pearls’, his status rose as the role-model. This inspiring film is the story of a young Sikh doctor, Dr. Amrit Singh, who moves from Toronto to Detroit to take a position at a new transplant facility. Here he has to face a struggle against the pressures to assimilate, including removing his Sikh identity of turban and hair, racial discrimination, an unfair medical system in which unsure patient cannot receive transplant, and romantic temptation towards an attractive colleague. The film is semi-autobiographical and reflex its the experience of the Sikhs in America post 9/11. It also speaks of the universal challenge of how so many people (not just Sikhs) have to balance romance, family, ethics and spirituality in today’s complex world. This film was released in 2008 in many theatres and was successful like other Hollywood movies. It presented a Sikh as a hero who not only saved his identity, but also fights against the hospital politics and health care injustices. The doctor hero of the movie becoming a role-model has made Dr. Neelam as a role-model in the real life.