There’s a lot of cultural identity that is saved like a time capsule by families that move from their motherland to a new country. Specifically in Canada, this can be seen by the rampant South Asian immigrants who have made the voyage either through ships in the early 19th century or by modern British Airways flights in the early 2000s. While the motherland grows in a globalized world, it is often the generations that grow up as immigrants that hold on to cultural roots.
As an Indo-Canadian I have found myself sandwiched between Carnatic music lessons at home and being expected to know the Top 40 songs to be accepted in school. I am not alone in hiding my artistic talents in order to not draw attention to myself – the unspoken truth is that it’s easier to pretend that all the hours we spend learning Bharatanatyam and Carnatic sangeetham don’t exist. The Tamil movies and Bollywood movies I’d watch on weekends would not be brought up in school either. We have to blend in and hiding our heritage means we won’t have one more thing which makes us different from the norm.
Of course, as we grow into young adults and start to embrace our talents, our Non-Indian friends start to look upon us admiringly. They may have given up ballet at the age of nine, or stopped piano lessons before they left grade five. Once we are older, we realize that it is better to be different than to be like everyone else – we have more to talk about and share.
Establishing a South Asian identity is so very important in Canada. Recently, I’ve been volunteering my skills in Social Media and Content Creation at the International Film Festival of South Asia, Toronto (IFFSA) to explore the film-making spectrum of the arts. This experience has opened my eyes to a whole new world of film business. This week, before the Official Launch of the festival, I was working on gathering the materials with the other volunteers to create the booklets and website content. In this process I got to read the stories of what inspired directors to share a vision. It could be something as simple as a walk outdoors where someone gets an idea or a social issue they feel passionate about.
The leads at IFFSA are some of the most passionate and fun people I’ve ever met. They aren’t necessarily filmmakers or actors themselves but they saw the need for South Asian representation in media and created a platform for budding talent. The IFFSA events bring all aspects of the subcontinent together – as we know there are several sub-cultures within South Asia that unfortunately are not always brought to light. The festival occurs during South Asian Heritage month, highlighting our unique identity which hopefully creates a sense of cultural pride within the younger children in the community. I’m definitely looking forward to Festival Week (May 19th – May 23rd) and performing at IFFSA Toronto’s Fest in the Park to offer a little bit of Tamil Nadu heritage!
You might ask me what an Indian Classical Artist like myself has to do with Film-Making.
It’s simple really.
We are all artists who want to tell a story – it’s just the different mediums we choose.
Welcome to the Artistic Journey 
Correction. I am not the director of Mithila Makhaan. I am the coproducer of the film
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WOW that’s impressive, Sridaya way to go girl . Good luck !
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