Life and/or Death

I am still in awe at how one can make a movie on suicide, rather against suicide and for life, utilising the cinematographic format of what is to my Western European culture, a comedy, a musical, a farce!
I am talking about an Indian movie set in Canada (Indian diaspora) in the Punjabi language subtitled in English just released this month, in July 2019, titled Ardaas Karaan.
I am also in awe at the crowd; an Indian crowd of probably 50 people, with or without turbans, families, and a few very young children, as young as 5! We are only 2 European-looking people in the theatre, my Pakeha friend and myself, in that Gisborne movie theatre.
We are sooo out of place that a young man joins us as soon as the movie’s finished to ask us to let him shoot a wee video where we’re going to talk about our feelings towards the movie! Before that, he makes sure we enjoyed the movie.
That’s how we learn that this movie isn’t welcomed in India; we don’t know why though, the conversation couldn’t last too long. Screening at 8.40pm, movie lasts 2h40, the theatre staff is eager to close their doors!
I hadn’t invited my friend to share thoughts on suicide at all. The screenplay mentions conflicts of generation, especially in a migrant environment. This is the actual context but there’s no emphasis nor attempt at deciphering what is a conflict between generations and how to solve it. The main issue in the movie is definitely ‘do humans have a right/can/should be able to take their own lives?’.
And to question this, several characters, mainly male (why is this?) are presented, each with their own issue and view.
I am guessing that the director and actor Gippy Grewal is a Sikh, and so is his main character Magic Singh. I’ve met Sikh people before and I know how positive they are; how positive their religious and philosophical beliefs make them. However the movie, using religious texts, claims that all religions can live together, understand each other, and should share the same appetite and respect for life.

I apologise this review isn’t finished I suppose, but months have passed, and so it is.