The first thing that Canada took away me from me upon arrival was my dignity and self respect as my engineering education and entire experience of the past was reduced to zero. This was in 2009 when what Canada actually required were just English speaking laborers.

Over the years, I learnt to live with an undervalued life using the ‘immigrant’ businesses to sustain my family and continued such life till such time my family priorities desired.

However what Canada or no country can snatch away from you is your ability to reinvent and dig deep inside to find some other way of satisfying your creative needs and make your soul find solace.

Sometimes our hobbies create such avenues and acting and writing showed me a new direction when I wanted to change track.

Now as a professional actor and a member of Canada’s actors’ union, besides some income I have also found a great way to connect with creative people and see the changing face of Canadian society.

And to put it simply, a revolution of sorts is happening in the professional world of Canadian and Hollywood film and TV industry with the emergence of extremely talented directors, producers, actors and professional crew from amongst the new immigrants.

Starting January this year and as late as just yesterday, I have had the privilege to work with some extremely talented and creative people from both Hollywood and Canadian cinema and while over the years one expects a high degree of creativity and professionalism from the veterans of the industry, it is the new wave of fresh diversity talent that has added to the excitement.

And they come in all shapes and forms. From different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds and are being rated by Netflix and many other Canadian film organizations as the new face of the Western cinema- Iran, Pakistan, India, Philippines, China, Latin America- The hot new creative catalysts are not just look like us but also speak our languages and stories. And their stories moving and soul stirring.

Of new immigrants and how they struggled all their lives to raise children with whom they cannot relate any further.

Of children who upon discovering their sexual preferences and body desires, are still finding difficulties coming out of the closet in homes which are in Canada and yet are ready to discriminate and turn hostile when they discover their own family member “being different”.

Of our struggles of getting acceptance in the Western world and at the same time trying desperately to cling to the past left behind.

This is not some standard Indian masala cinema but one that is more relevant to us as immigrants in Canada or USA.

Believe you me, the world of Western cinema is going to be a changed world in times to come and the characters that you will see as representatives of diversity will not just be your taxi driver, delivery man or store keeper but the real deal, the real picture.

So enjoy the days ahead and don’t just tune into the desi films and TV for your entertainment and stories from a world that you may never ever belong to. Tune into your local Hollywood and Canadian cinema and maybe you will see your reflection emerging in our content. Including even superhero movies!

To an exciting road ahead…….

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