11 April,2021 08:48 AM IST | Mumbai | Aastha Atray Banan
Steven Olikara in a still from the documentary
We all watched news about the US elections in 2020, along with the havoc that Coronavirus spread. Much like India, the United States fell apart in many ways in
the past year. And so, when a documentary called The Reunited States comes by, which is planning its Indian foray soon on an OTT platform, you sit up and wonder what they are going to say.
The subject of director Ben Rekhi and producer Raj Krishna's documentary is political polarisation. It follows four everyday heroes on the difficult journey of bridging political and racial divides in the US. There is Susan Bro, whose daughter was killed when a car drove through a crowd of counter-protestors in Charlottesville, and who talks of social justice; there is politician Greg Orman who wants to break the gridlock of the two-party system; Steven Olikara, the son of Indian immigrants from Kerala, who has founded the Millennial Action Project that tries to build a coalition of bi-partisan lawmakers to transform the American government; and David Leaverton, who worked in Republican politics and now travels across all 50 states in an RV to find out what is causing the divisions.
"The bridge building movement in the US needed to be elevated. This movie gives the right message at the right time," Olikara tells us over a Zoom call. "I hope Indians can learn about the challenges the American democracy is facing - for a long time there has been a partnership between the oldest democracy and the largest democracy. It's also to see that Indian Americans now have a role to play in the social and political life of this democracy. When they realise that, there will be place to make more partnerships between Indians and Indian Americans."
For Rekhi, the need to make this documentary came from his own American-Sikh upbringing. "That allowed me to look at two points of view at the same time," says the filmmaker known for Waterborne, which is about a fictional biological attack on LA's water supply, and The Hidden Vote, which profiled minorities who support Trump.
"Cinema is a powerful tool to bring people together. I saw Susan Bro, and she used the death of her daughter to shed light on the fact that we can avoid more like that later. I went to her and said âI want to tell your story', and that became the beginning. We also spoke to Mark Gerzon, who wrote the book [by] the same name [The Reunited States], and got us in touch with other stories like that." At the time of taking [his project] to Krishna, Rekhi was assessing if he was Indian or American, even as he felt disturbed at what happened during the 2016 elections.
"This project made me feel I could have a hand at healing the country," says Krishna, who in 2020, wrote and directed his first film Padmavyuha, the world premiere of which was at the opening night of the Indian International Film Festival Toronto (IIFFT).
"The universal reason for doing this is the political polarisation happening all over the world. And we talk about ways we can make the differing opinions more healthy - learning to have a conversation is one of them. There is no need for heated discussions."
For now, they want the movie to prove that our diversity is what binds us. As Krishna says, "Embrace the diversity. It is proven that the more diverse the teams, the more productive the outcome. We have to remember that we need each other - you can't eliminate someone who prays differently, thinks differently. We have other challenges like poverty, and fighting the virus to focus on. We hope this documentary opens up people's minds."
