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In Saira Shah’s, The Storyteller’s Daughter: One Woman’s Return to Her Lost Homeland, her father, an Afghan immigrant living in Kent, introspects on how rituals, memories, and stories replace a physical community, as is the case for many diasporic communities trying to retain their cultural identity. He says, “Stories are like these onions — like dried experience. They aren’t the original experience but they are more than nothing at all. You think about a story, you turn it over in your mind, and it becomes something else.”
For many of the South-Asian diaspora too, the intersection of identity and belonging governs their own understanding of self. Far-removed from their own communities, they attempt at finding stories and experiences that form this web of connection and belonging. Because at the end of the day, we all want to feel like we belong somewhere, that we matter, our stories matter, and our experiences matter.
The Becoming Of Dialogues of Diaspora
Founded by British-Indian filmmaker Sanvir Singh Chana and Los-Angeles based creator Ramneet Baidwan, Dialogues of Diaspora are a production house and a team of multidisciplinary creatives. It is in many ways an attempt to reconnect to their South-Asian identities, of creating a representation for people who look like themselves, of trying to embrace their identities without feeling the pressure to fit into a new culture.
The first in their line of products is their latest Youtube talk show which debuted on May 27, 2022. With Season 1 of the riveting series, we explore the untold stories from the South Asian Diaspora through in-depth conversations with a star-studded ensemble. The enticing three-part, guest-on-guest web series has been shot at Dishoom’s Carnaby location in London’s eclectic Soho neighbourhood.
Reflecting on how the project came to be, in an interview with Dishoom, founder Sanvir Chana says, “Dialogues of Diaspora is a way for us to reconnect. In some ways, like me, this project is 26 years in the making. Hounslow, a rich South Asian pocket in West London was a somewhat welcoming place to grow up. Nurtured in the comfort of our culture, reflected in the Gurdwaras and pungent smells gently wafting from the litter of Punjabi restaurants frequented by the many faces like my own” he adds “But any interest in my own heritage and faith was outweighed by the fluctuating need to fit in at school, and at sixteen, without a platform for my British/Asian identity to resonate, I only drifted further away from that comfort into a place of false assimilation. If only I returned home to regularly feel part of the national story, to see myself reflected in mainstream media, I wouldn’t have contemplated the fate of my long hair.”
In the same interview, he goes on to say, “However, I felt the blame could no longer be inflicted on the industry if I wasn’t doing anything about it, and fortunately, a friend on the opposite side of the world felt the same. Together, Ramneet Baidwan and I, with an arduous eight-hour time difference, carefully crafted this talk show and two short films (to be later released) that we hope will inspire the next generation with the comfort to be themselves. Our passion for story-telling and platforming the vast history and narratives of the South Asian diaspora found the curious and energetic team and Dishoom. The sole purpose of pursuing this project was evoked by emotion; Dialogues of Diaspora is a way for us all to reconnect.”
Dialogues Of Diaspora: The Talk Show
“As members of the diaspora, we are all rooted in different places, and Dishoom - at least for me - has always been a project about identity. This is an idea that we explore and unpack with the wonderful team at Dialogues of Diaspora, who are bringing the richness of our collective South Asian British history to life” says Shamil Thakrar the co-founder of Dishoom, who is the first guest on the show alongside Shalina Patel, the Founder of The History Corridor (@thehistorycorridor).
In the first episode, the two of them engage in conversations about the complex history and the future of the diaspora; as they take a comprehensive look at South Asian British history, talking about chapatis in the World War I trenches to shared stories to history lessons.
The second episode scheduled to release on June 10, 2022 will feature musical guests Leo Kalyan and Priya Ragu as they talk about their musical journeys, the South-Asian music scene at large, their own careers ahead and their muses.
The final and concluding episode of the first season will feature South Asian female influencer, Simran Randhawa and Grammy-award winning Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab as they candidly talk about their upbringing, food, fashion and everything in-between.
The unapologetic and candid web series is a masterclass in the power of storytelling. It not only offers a glimpse into the complexity of the South Asian Diaspora and the myriad of stories involved but also raises the question of who gets to tell their stories and who gets a place in the mainstream. As they say, if you don’t get a seat at the table, you must bring your own table, possibly your own chair too.
Check out Dialogues Of Diaspora here.
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