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His film ‘Ocean of Pearls’ will open in cinemas on August 7. ‘In today’s world of multi-hyphenate creative types, it’s not often that you run into one such label that truly stands out. But I’m pretty sure that Michigan resident Sarab Singh Neelam is one of the very few people – if not the only one - to be able to introduce themselves as a gastroenterologist-slash-filmmaker. Let alone the first Sikh director of an American film’, director Richard Horgan has written His autobiographically inspired drama about a Detroit surgeon, Ocean of Pearls, opens August 7th in Bloomington Hills, MI, and is set to expand from there to a few other local venues. For one night at least, Neelam will take a break from his duties at William Beaumont-Troy and St. John Macomb Hospitals for a few stomach butterflies of his own at the premiere and after-party. “During medical school in Toronto, I volunteered to be a production assistant on an Indian film which had huge stars from India,” explains Neelam in the Director’s Statement. “I was in awe when I first met Shashi Kapoor. During my residency in Michigan, I heard that Kurt Luedtke (who wrote Out of Africa) lived in Michigan. Through him, I met Jim Burnstein, a budding writer, who, at the time was teaching Shakespeare to army recruits. “ “Jim’s own story later became Renaissance Man. Jim has been a friend and mentor since then.” |
Dr. Sarab Singh Seelam is the first Sikh to become an American film director.