Kismat
Screenplay. 98 pages. 2020.
With agricultural roots in rural India, this story draws on the history of my parents and grandparents and the path they took of working the fields of California's Central Valley upon their arrival to the United States.
The screenplay also shines a light on Sikhism, which despite being the fifth largest religion in the world, has not garnered much in the way of public awareness in western media or film. The story highlights both the strengths and traditions of the religion, as well as certain prejudices that the diaspora has failed to shed in its assimilation stateside (the caste system, racism, gender inequality).
While my family's story may seem foreign compared to other American (or Asian American) immigrant stories, the narratives boil down to a universal language shared by all — of love and heartache, birth and death, overcoming adversity, and both adopting and adapting to a new motherland — America is defined by the richness (and struggles) of its immigrant experience.