Trying to build bridges between all faiths, the
film shows the personal stories of five American Muslim families
observing their faith in Ramadan with commentary by a Jewish rabbi,
Christian doctor and a Muslim scholar.
"We want to show that Muslims are much more
than that. We also want to show that Muslims are a very diverse
group," said Randhawa, who was born in Pakistan and raised in
Canada.
"They are Arabs, African Americans, Pakistanis
and they are white, Chinese and black. They are from all over the
world."
In his movie, Randhawa tried to show that American
Muslims are part of the fabric of America and that they go through the
same issues as their fellow Americans.
"American Muslims have the same hopes, fears
and aspirations as any other American has," he said.
"The only difference is that they have a
different approach in their faith just like the Jews and Christians
have. But essentially all of these faiths and all of these American
people are trying to do the same thing at the end of the day."
Asked whether the movie has any indirect political
message, Randhawa, who has been living in Dallas for the last eight
years of his life, said it cannot be labeled as a political film.
"We do have a political background there.
However, we went really out of our way to make sure that the film will
not be labeled as political," he added.
"In the movie we don’t talk about the
government or about any establishments. We wanted this to be something
like common ground for Christians, Jewish and Muslims so that when
people of any faith look at they could find similarities from
themselves. In this particular film, we want to focus on what we share
in common."
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Randhawa is thinking of focusing on confusing issues that are misrepresented in the mainstream media such as hijab, Jihad or reverts.
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Randhawa said that he is addressing his film to a
variety of audiences.
"First, it is addressed for Muslims so that
they could see themselves on screen and identify with all the
characters that we have on the film," he noted.
"When you watch TV or when you watch film, you
don’t identify all the time with the characters because they are not
Muslims, they are typically so far removed from reality that you
can’t really relate to them."
But in his film the case is different.
"So when Muslims see that, the reaction that
we have gotten was that a lot of Muslims have been very enthusiastic
and very happy to see things that belong to them.
The movie is also addressed to non-Muslims whom
Randhawa believes need to see the right picture of Islam apart from
the mainstream media.
"For non-Muslims, they get something a little
bit different out of it. For them it is really an exploration of what
true Muslims are, what true Muslims look like, talk like, live like
and the fact that they are not these foreigners who are stereotyped in
mainstream media," insists the filmmaker.
"They realize that these people are just like
them. They have the same issues and they deal with the same problems.
From the feedback we have gotten, the movie was like educational for
them."
Randhawa said one American non-Muslim woman told
him that her perception of Adhan (call to prayer) has completely
changed after watching the film.
"I have one particular lady who after
screening came back to me and said, 'You know the Adhan that you
played in the movie was so nice. I thought the Adhan is something for
terrorists when they go to war.'"
The filmmaker asserted that the lady's perception
of the religion has been shaped by mainstream media "which is
unfortunately for the most part has been put negatively."
"So, when they see this they come to
understand that Muslims are fasting just like these Jewish and
Christians are fasting. They see something like common ground between
them and Muslims."
Challenges
Randhawa said he faced some difficulties while
directing his documentary.
"Giving the fact that this is my first film
and I haven’t made any films before, I had lot of technical
challenges," he admitted.
"I just had a lot of learning to do. We want
to make sure that we put out something that was as professional as we
can make it because we want people to see this and we did not want
them to look at this movie and think you know production values
couldn’t be better.
"We wanted to make sure since we are talking
about Ramadan, which we don’t really talk or hear about here, that
we are presenting it in a very positive and professional way."
Besides the technical difficulties, Randhawa has
also faced some religious problems while making his movie.
"I had a couple of unique issues that have to
deal with Islamic subjects," said the director.
"Fatima, the Palestinian young lady who is
married to the African American gentleman decided to wear the hijab on
the half way of the movie. I was confused on whether I am allowed to
show her without hijab in the first part of the movie. But after she
asked a scholar, she decided to show it as a part of her
journey."
The musical background was another confusing issue
for Randhawa while directing his movie.
For some it was absolutely forbidden to deal with
music, but he said that he preferred to go with the majority of
opinions that allow music.
"The decision that I made is based on my
belief and on my conversations with the people that I know. You could
not satisfy hundred percent of the people all the time," said
Randhawa.
"My point in all these is that although we had
lot of struggles and different issues that we had to deal with, we
were committed that we want to make it a very fine quality
movie."
Support Media
The filmmaker, who believes that focusing on media
should be a priority for Muslims, is encouraging all Muslims,
especially those who live in the West, to support Islamic media
productions.
"Media is an essential tool for our community
to be successful in America. If we are not involved in media it
essentially means that we have no voice in mainstream America and if
you don’t have a voice others begin speaking for you and they
won’t say what you want."
Randhawa said Muslims need to support Islamic media
production "which starts by reading it if it is a book or
magazine, watching it if it is a movie. They should also buy these
DVDs or CDs."
The world's largest Muslim body, the Organization
of Islamic Conference (OIC), on Wednesday, September 13, encouraged
Muslim tycoons to buy shares in global media outlets to help clear
misconceptions about Islam and stop vilification of Muslims around the
globe.
Anti-Muslim media campaigns have been on the rise
around the world since the 9/11 attacks, associating Islam and Muslims
with violence and terrorism.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has
accused Western media of applying double standards when reporting on
Muslims, saying they were often ignorant about sensitive issues for
Muslims.
Stephen Schwartz, executive director of the
US-based Center for Islamic Pluralism, has also criticized the western
media for failing to meet the challenge of reporting on Islam after
the 9/11 attacks.
Randhawa's documentary will be screened around the
nation and will enter into film festivals in the US and abroad. It
will be aired on PBS-Dallas, Link TV, KRA and other networks
world-wide.
The film has already been awarded official
Selection status by ‘Dallas South Asian Film Fest’ and ‘Dallas
Video Fest’, the first two fests that it was submitted to.
Future Movies
Randhawa hopes to become a full time filmmaker.
"Basically, I go into transition from IT field
into filmmaking because I feel it is a great need for the Muslim
community."
After the many supportive and positive reactions he
got from both Muslim and non-Muslim Americans, he decided to make
another film that could be relevant to Muslims.
"Within about a year, I will have a second
production that I am l already thinking about," he told IOL.
"But we are actually just at the brainstorming
stage. We are just at the very early stages because we are still
focusing on the first film.
"We are trying to think about other subjects
that are relevant to Muslims and that would be important to
non-Muslims to know, but we hadn’t completely decided yet."
In his future movies, Randhawa is thinking of
focusing on confusing issues that are misrepresented in the mainstream
media and that people have lot of questions about.
"Maybe issues like hijab, Jihad, or maybe
about people who converted to Islam. All these issues that we see in
the news and that people have lot of questions on and lot of confusion
about."
For more information check Randhawa's www.JustSayGoFilms.com
