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| IDENTITY MATTERS: Singh |
Well begun is half done, they say. Cyrus Sundar Singh
has proved it right. As an eighth-grader, Singh, together with seven of
his immigrant classmates, made an eight-min long movie, Ohh Canada, that
won an award of merit at the Toronto Board of Education's 1974 Film Festival.
And now, years later, Singh has made another film, Film Club, that has won
the Canadian National Film Board's Reel Diversity Competition for first-time
filmmakers. "I wanted to explore those earlier questions that we had
asked in Ohh Canada many years back," says Singh. "We were an
integral part of the first great Canadian multicultural experiment
and I wanted to find out what had happened to some of the people who had
ventured to Canada." Admitting that making the film was a cathartic
experience, Singh says, "We have realised that it's not blending in
that counts; it is the duality in our lives that defines who we are."
-Swapna Jayakumar
First Love, Then Law
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| IDENTITY MATTERS: Singh |
Shaheen Sheikh does not tire of telling people why she plunged into a
music career. "I have always loved music," she says. "But
when I was in law school, I realised that music made me happiest."
So she formed a band at her law school. And graduated to performing in
public in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Her passion for music has overtaken
her career goal of becoming a lawyer. "I have evolved my own kind
of music drawing from my Indian roots and global heritage," she says.
About the decision to follow her dreams, she says, "When I was looking
around and seeing people loving the law, I wished that I could find something
that I loved that much." With music, she has.
- Mabel Pais
Good Karma
 A
grand venue, a huge stage, one big name, lots of local talent and a dream
to duplicate success. That sums up Karma-The Show, a concert at the Hummingbird
Centre promoted by Kailash Patel who, egged on by an earlier show in Montreal,
desired to repeat the success. Impressionistic on a scale unseen in Canada,
the show packed in electrifying music, ranging from bhangra to Bollywood
pop and unique genres of Indo-western fusion. Apart from Sukhbir aka Prince
of Bhangra, there were musical performances by Charan G. and Josh. Comedy
livened the proceedings with Ash Chandler, and stand-up comedians Russell
Peters and Rasool Shamji keeping the crowd in raptures. Only if the tickets
were not priced so steeply, the show would have been a far greater hit.
As they say, nothing can ever be perfect.
Eugene Correia
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ISSUE DEC 24, 2001
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