What's Down with the Brown?

Made in India? One Answer to a Poignant Question

Hima Tadoori

On Saturday, October 7, I attended the South Asian International Film Festival in New York, planning to see a segment of documentaries by emerging directors. My younger sister and a friend were to join me, but as fate would have it all three of our subways were running late, not in service, etc., and we therefore didn’t get into the theater until thirty minutes into the presentation. We caught the last minute of the second short film, and then began the main lengthier piece – a documentary entitled “Made in India?” by Deepti Paul.

My family hails from South India.
My parents had a “love marriage.”
I am the eldest sibling. There are four of us kids, three girls with a boy as the youngest.
I have completed college, and I don’t want to be a doctor, so Indian culture standards say there is no excuse for me not to get married ASAP.
And it seems that the most important wish of my parents and elder relatives in India is for me to get married to a good boy with a good job and bright future.

This is me, and this is Deepti Paul. Our main difference is that the pressure my family exudes for my marital status to change is miniscule compared to what she has experienced, driving her to the point of acceptance of making a trip to India for the purpose of entertaining the thought of an “arranged” marriage.

Her documentary follows the history of her youth in America, starting with her family basics and flashing back to the story of her parents’ coming together. She returns to the issues that many young Indian-Americans face in terms of balancing the community pressure to get married with their own self-induced pressure to figure out who they are. The film does an amazing job of educating the first generation immigrant parents and guardians on the plights of their children, and it does an equally amazing job of giving an illustrated view to which so many first generation offspring can relate.

There were quite a few moments where I thought, “That is so me/my family/my siblings/my opinion.” And there were other moments during which I respectfully admired the ability the director had in displaying what made her family the Paul family, and what made Deepti as Deepti could be best defined – two people with distinct minds held within one body, trying to sort out how to reach an internal compromise to achieve social symbiosis and overall peace of mind.

There is quite a bit more I’d like to say about certain scenes and characters in the film, but I don’t want to exploit its charm for future viewers. If every Indian-American community could view this film, I think it would be the first of many steps in the great stride to bridge the gap between generations, those that are clearly Made in India, and those that have yet to really know where their homes lie.

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Hima is a guest writer for Brownscape Productions. She can be reached through her blog or at hima@brownscapeprod.com