Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna who ventured into films with The Last Color and Imaginary Rain, is back with another film, in the animation format, as an executive producer along with Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga Kapoor. Being considered for an Oscar nomination, American Sikh, directed by Vishavjit Singh, is a biographical tale of Singh who is known for his Captain America persona in public, and is made in partnership with director Ryan Westra. In a free-flowing conversation, Vikas talks about finding a deep connection with the film, cheerleading for Guneet and more, as Vishavjit joins in.

Poster of American Sikh

The last time we spoke, at Victoria Memorial in Calcutta, it was about Imaginary Rain. This time too we have connected to talk about your next film and interestingly, it’s an animation film. Tell us what’s special about the film.

Vikas: This is an animated film, nine minutes long, and it’s a very powerful film. It’s about Vishavjit Singh’s real-life story. It’s about a guy facing discrimination in 1984 and then moving to the US. And 9/11 happens and again the same thing… uniqueness is not celebrated unless or until we stand up for it. I remember in 2013 a news channel wrote a story on Vishavjit as a superhero dressed as a Sardar. I could relate to it as, as a child, my grandmother used to tell me Sikhs were superheroes as they were the protectors in so many ways. The movie is so much about this guy who says that the world is made up of everyone; let’s celebrate uniqueness.

The film though is just nine minutes long, I am sure it was a humongous task for all of you behind it….

Vikas: Ryan and Vishavjit spent so many years making the film, during and post-pandemic, and I would like to do a separate interview with you once we get shortlisted at the Oscars with Ryan and Guneet as well on board. I accept that I’ve been a very blessed man in my journey and I feel that we will have to fight for our people and the fight has to be constant. To see Vishavjit win an Oscar, he’ll be the first Sikh in the world, for me that’s one of the biggest highlights of my life.

You have also been living in the US for so long. What was it that made you feel connected with the film?

Vikas: It has to be 1984 (Sikh riots). We saw the riots as kids in Amritsar, in India. You know as a child, I was just a teenager then, you don’t understand the political parties behind it, you just remember the pain; you don’t remember anything else. I remember the burning of the hair and till today when I’m working on tandoor and my (arms) hair burns, I get that smell and sometimes I even start to cry because it’s too overwhelming for me. We always remember the war and talk about displacements and the money spent on wars but the biggest issue is the post-trauma on the children’s minds. The moment I heard Vishavjit’s story I was like: ‘Oh my God this guy is so strong!’ He has my heart and what Ryan has done in this film is very powerful. We are very proud that we have Guneet Monga Kapoor, our Oscar-winning daughter of India, on board, and let’s see how far we can push this narrative.

Tell us about you and Guneet coming on board American Sikh.

Vikas: Guneet is like my spiritual sister; a sister from another mother. And you know, I was the first cheerleader for all her films even when she didn’t have a global audience. And even for Elephant Whisperers, I remember, I flew down from India to New York and made breakfast for her and she said: ‘Vikas you flew all the way from India to make breakfast for me?’ and I’m like, Guneet, I flew all the way from India to tell you that we are all with you. And as a leader also sometimes you need to look back and see how many people are in the tribe. She is one of the most important persons in the entire nation of India and I feel what she has done to Indian storytelling, nobody has been so successful. I’m very proud of what she’s achieved.

Okay, now that you’re discovering the power of cinema and storytelling, I am sure you have multiple ideas for your future projects. Tell us what we can expect next.

Vikas: I’ve never done things on mass volume. You see my restaurants, my books, I do one, I do it world-class. I don’t compromise on my qualities. I’m doing big research on some amazing stories of India, which celebrate our tenacity, our falling, and our success.

Vikas Khanna, Vishavjit Singh, and Guneet Monga

Vishavjit, to what extent is the story true to your life?

Vishavjit: It is my life’s story but the challenge was to capture 40 years of my life in nine minutes. We had to make a lot of difficult decisions about what stays in, what goes out, and what really flows well. So, you see some really key chapters of my life in the film, but there were some chapters that we had to let go of because of the length of the film. Our goal was to do great animation so it cost us money for that quality. So we were striving for excellence in storytelling and in animation. We achieved it, but if I had 90 minutes you would get to see a lot more. American Sikh is true to what I’ve gone through. The two years, 1984, and 9/11 were very big incidents in my life and we captured those but at the same time, the Captain America part of my life is something that has in very strange ways opened doors that I never fathomed would open. I do a lot of work with kids and adults in America as a public speaker and storyteller and that all happened because somehow I decided and somebody convinced me 10 years ago to don the costume of Captain America.

Do you think the medium of animation and short film justified in conveying the story?

Vishavjit: Yeah. So that’s the decision we took early on with Ryan, my co-director from Southern California. He’s really the one who pushed me to tell this story. I’ve gone through two significant tragedies and when you’re dealing with big tragedies then live action becomes very complicated. You don’t want to overwhelm people with the emotions of this tragedy. When you develop that in animation, you can leave something to the imagination, not make it too gory. And also, you have a lot of creative freedom with animation; you don’t have any live actors. It takes time because we had almost 15 animators who spent many months working on this film.

And, how was it having Chef Vikas, who’s a perfectionist, on board, and also Guneet?

Vishavjit: I knew him as a celebrity chef but when he came on board I felt his passion. He made a connection to the film and he’s made a connection to my story, just like Guneet has and I think that shows in his passion. He is where he is because he is a perfectionist, as you said. He has a very fascinating story and I know he’s on board pouring all of his might into this film. We are telling this story, not because my story is necessarily special compared to other people’s stories, but we believe that people can find a connection to different parts of my story. It’s like having two very passionate cheerleaders because that’s what they are. They are driven to see that this film maximises its potential for success at the Oscars.