Unique Film Explores Modern Sikh Psyche

Vancouver: A young Canadian Sikh doctor’s heart warming story of transcendent love and cultural self-discovery as a social reformer radiates powerfully in the inspirational drama “Ocean of Pearls,” set for release on June 17 (Albion Cinema) throughout Canada in partnership with White Hill Production.
Canadian film director Sarab S. Neelam, also a Detroit-area physician, draws inspiration from a childhood spent in India, years as an adolescent and medical student in Toronto, and later as a professional with a successful medical practice in the United States.
The film’s title derives from sacred Sikh scripture in which ocean pearls represent wisdom, knowledge and love needed to achieve peace within oneself and better connect with God. In accordance with that incessant longing towards self-discovery, lead actor Amrit Singh (played by  American of Egptian origin Omid Abtahi) strives to maintain his cultural identity while grappling with complex medical and ethical scenarios in the medical profession.
As a Sikh man, Amrit finds himself the target of racial prejudice due to a beard and turban he sports. Incidents involving security screening personnel at an airport and a deliberate snub by a medical colleague leave him further disenfranchised.
Simultaneously, Amrit’s relationships with his ardently traditional father Ravinder (Ajay Mehta) and longtime girlfriend Smita Sethi (Navi Rawat) grow increasingly strained as he prioritizes his goal of becoming chief of transplant surgery at a new transplant center in Detroit, at the expense of close relationships with loved ones. Amrit distances himself from his family and tradition, creating a hidden life dominated by ambition.
Sensing that his dreams of professional success are receding, Amrit bypasses tradition and takes the bold, unprecedented step of secretly cutting his hair to better conform to his surroundings, but conceals this powerful revelation from Smita and his family.

Undaunted and undeterred, Amrit is fiercely determined to position himself as a viable candidate for chief of transplant surgery, but the weight of his isolated double life culminates in a life-changing confrontation with his father at a family-run Sikh camp. At this pivotal crossroad, Amrit learns about the significance of the Sikh turban and the history his dad witnessed first-hand as a child during the Partition riots of India and Pakistan in 1947. Amrit’s life-altering decision to save a patient’s life, potentially sacrificing his own career, attests to the values his father instilled in him as a child. Once he and his father are reunited spiritually, Smita sees the man she loves has been reborn.

“My film speaks to the universal challenges of how so many people have to balance romance, family, ethics and spirituality in today’s complex world,” Neelam said.
Dr. Neelam is a practicing doctor in the Detroit area. He moved to Canada at the age of 10, attended undergraduate university in Toronto, and completed his medical residency in Michigan. Ocean of Pearls is his first major film.  It has won many awards in the film festival circuit including best feature, audience choice award and critics’ award.

 

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