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31, 2003: USA The film starts with Amanda asking a Sikh taxi driver about his experiences after 9/11. From him, she learns about hate crimes and racial profiling. She then ventures deeper and learns about the Sikh religion and the Sikh community. She visits a Gurdwara, and talks to Sikh men, women and children about their experiences as Sikhs in America. By using a non-Sikh American as the host, the producer hopes the audience will connect better with a subject that is pretty much alien to them. The film also presents in-depth interviews with Jasmit Kaur, International Institute of Gurmat Studies, Arvind Singh, Chair of Sikh Studies at Hofstra University, Sat Jiwan Singh, Sikh Dharma, and several others about the Sikh identity. It touches on the history of Sikhs in America and focuses on the accomplishments of Sikh entrepreneurs. 'Mistaken Identity' was released last year by New York producer/director Vinanti Sarkar. When asked what motivated her to create this film, especially being a non-Sikh, she said that she became interested through Amanda Gesine who was moved by the plight of the thousands of Sikhs who reached out to America in a Central Park vigil after the 9/11 tragedy. Seeing how Amanda was so interested in finding out who Sikhs were, she though it would be a better subject than the one she originally intended to film, that of successful Indians overseas. Sarkar has a PhD in filmmaking from Columbia University and has a handful of films under her belt. In an interview, Sarkar told The Sikh Sentinel that "'Mistaken Identity' cost me $210,000 and nine months to finish." She was quite irked at the "rich Sikhs" in the U.S. who she said promised to give her financial support which never materialized. According to Sarkar, "they would demand that they be in the film or they would want this or that taken out, and some wanted stuff about Khalistan." Sarkar says she is now bankrupt. Sarkar had planned to use Amanda Gesine to promote and market the film, but Amanda died in a car accident on June 14, 2002, just after the completion of the film. Sarkar says she continues to promote the film because "this film is Amanda's only legacy." When asked whether she had consulted Sikh advocacy organizations to produce the film with the proper Sikh perspective, Sarkar said that she did not because they made too many demands to "put this in or take that out." Sikh organizations have expressed concern that their input was not taken into consideration. Wanting to remain anonymous, they said they had seen the original un-cut version a year ago when they were asked to endorse it. The original had many problems with it. A representative of one of the organizations said that "it promoted the wrong image of Sikhs, especially by going too far with cultural assimilation." Apparently, the original had a long scene on a cross-cultural marriage, between a Sikh and a Jew, which had been screened to audiences as a pre-release. There was also talk of a non-Sikh version floating around. A representative of another Sikh organization said he had seen a DVD marked 'Sikh version'. The present version in circulation, they all said, has evolved into something more palatable (without the marriage scene). When asked about the different versions, Sarkar denied that there was any other version. Reports from people who have seen the film across the country confirm that they all saw the same film, the forty-minute version. There is only one version of 'Mistaken Identity' being screened and distributed across the country. Some of the comments and concerns that Sikh viewers from across the U.S. have had with the film were: Sikhs in the piece try to distance themselves from Muslims versus stating that discrimination is bad and no one deserves it; there is wrong representation of the imagery associated with Guru Tegh Bahadur while talking about Guru Arjan Dev, although such imagery has no basis in Sikh ideology; having one of the speakers who clearly has no hair and just a stub of beard does not represent the image that needs to be presented; the movie does not address any aspect of the recent history of Sikhs in Punjab; even though it tries to introduce Sikhs in North America, the movie does absolutely no justice to the topic; there is a scene with Indira Gandhi that, although the discussion is about Bhraminism in India, is unnecessary and insensitive. Other viewers saw things quite differently. One viewer from Pennsylvania remarked, "We managed to watch the video 'Mistaken Identity' this week. There were many good speakers in the tape including Sat Jivan Singh, Jasmit Kaur, Rajwant Singh and many others. I am not sure what the objections are to the video. Of course we can all find details we would improve upon or change, but it addressed the urgent issues of how Sikhs are being harassed and abused since 9/11 along with a brief background on who we are as a people. I thought it was more than good enough to serve our present needs." Jasbir Singh, one of the original sponsors of the film, said: "We need to look at the bigger picture. This film was meant for awareness. Although Sikhs have a mixed reaction, non-Sikhs have reacted positively." In Yuba City, California, Singh says that the film is being used for police training, education for high school students, and continuing education for teachers. The Punjabi American Heritage Society, of which Singh is the founding member, provided information on Sikhs and Sikh history and raised over $20,000 for the film as an investment. Sat Jivan Singh, a lawyer from New York and member of Sikh Dharma, who was interviewed in the film, commented that "'Mistaken Identity' shows Sikhs in a good light and it would sensitize people as to who Sikhs are." He hopes that with the help of the film, people would "look for the turban in America because those are the people you can trust." People are seeing 'Mistaken Identity' on college campuses, at events sponsored by private organizations and at film festivals. Many Gurdwaras are now selling the DVD. The Sikh Coalition, which recently sponsored an event in Seattle, Washington, where the film was also screened, made the following statement: "The documentary, 'Mistaken Identity', has produced mixed reactions in the Sikh community - it provides a simple introduction to the Sikhs and their beliefs but has several inherent inaccuracies in its limited content. Some of the Sikh men and women in the documentary have done a good job representing the ideology of the faith. While the topic of the documentary is Sikhs in North America, it only briefly touches on the struggles of the early pioneers. It's coverage on Sikhs' contributions to the North American society is also fairly limited. Furthermore, the documentary completely omits the State oppression against Sikhs, which is the reason why many Sikhs immigrated to North America in the last two decades from the Sikh homeland. Because this is the only documentary produced in recent times dealing with contemporary issues, Americans are likely to use this as an introduction to the Sikh community, until Sikhs are able to produce a more accurate product for public consumption." The Coalition also stated that the best way to screen the film is to have an accompanying presentation that fills in the gaps about Sikhism and also to have a discussion forum afterward, which is how they screened it in Seattle. That is, however, an ideal situation. Most viewings are not moderated. Vinanti Sarkar says that she intends to market this film as an educational tool. She has been promoting it at universities across the country. Sarkar says that she would also re-edit the film to include more footage from Sikh children for distribution in middle and high schools. Her other plans include selling the film to PBS. Sarkar has already approached PBS. They were willing to air the film, she said, but were not willing to compensate her for it. Sarkar says that PBS usually purchases films to be aired on stations across the country and she is not willing to give it to them for free, pointing out that the film has caused her financial hardship. Sarkar says that she would have to re-edit the film to include fifteen more minutes of footage to make it a one-hour program for PBS. The desire to air 'Mistaken Identity' on PBS has prompted some Sikhs to raise money through fundraisers and solicit donations through the internet. Their goal is to raise $25,000 to sponsor the film for PBS. Others say that the film is not of PBS quality and would not donate more than the $10 to $20 for the DVD. The Sikh community has expressed the entire spectrum of opinions and emotions - from "love it" to "hate it." The only consensus about the film seemed to be that it is not perfect, but there is nothing else out there that shows the Sikh experience like this. One viewer summed up 'Mistaken Identity' by saying: "I wish such projects were led by Sikh organizations/individuals, but I find we get mired in our egoistical battles and seem to lose the big picture when it comes to execution. There is a need that exists for presenting these aspects of our community, she [Sarkar] recognizes that from her many conversations with the community members and is making the best of the opportunity." note: The Sikhs interviewed for this article come from all walks of life - American-born, Indian-born, non-Indian, activist, non-activist, between 20 and 50 years of age. |
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