(RNS) — In the new short film “Namaste Yoga,” a 10-year-old Indian boy named Shiv faces a choice after getting into a fight with the school bully: Get suspended or attend yoga classes during lunch.Shiv, whose parents taught yoga before his mother’s recent death, sees right through Miss Blanche, the well-meaning but ignorant yoga “guru” at the school, but the class is still an epiphany. The boy can finally take pride in his parents’ devotion to the practice, and he’s able to draw closer to his ancestors while embracing the Western world where he wants badly to belong.
The film’s director, Ravi Chand, says this moment is taken from his own journey as a Hindu boy, a transplant from Fiji, growing up in Australia. At a recent virtual screening of the film, Chand explained that, much like Shiv, he spent his early years being ashamed of his culture. Bullies seemed to sense it, picking on him for everything from his dark skin to his family’s religious practices.
“When you’re facing racism as a young kid, you don’t have the language to fight back,” said Chand. “I really beat myself up over it. I wa …
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The film’s director, Ravi Chand, says this moment is taken from his own journey as a Hindu boy, a transplant from Fiji, growing up in Australia. At a recent virtual screening of the film, Chand explained that, much like Shiv, he spent his early years being ashamed of his culture. Bullies seemed to sense it, picking on him for everything from his dark skin to his family’s religious practices.
“When you’re facing racism as a young kid, you don’t have the language to fight back,” said Chand. “I really beat myself up over it. I wa …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]