Sindhustan

Sindhustan is the story of the largest migration of a culture in history told through ink (tattoos).

According to Google, along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Sindh was one of three early civilisations of the Old World, and of the three the most widespread. There are pages upon pages of history that one can go through and decipher their own Sindh. But that is not how I want to tell my tale.

A decade or so ago I was visiting India after living in America for 14 years. My body was considerably inked. One afternoon while lunching with my grandmother, I found myself covering my inked body. She caressed my ink and said “Sapna, you’re so old fashioned, you know, when we first came as a human race, we all had our markings, we didn’t have countries or governments, we lived in extended families. I’m happy to see to you are going back to our roots, your roots.” This entire time I was getting inked rebelling Indian culture and expectations of looking like an “Indian” woman.

This was the afternoon that changed me forever.

My documentary includes many stories. Some from India and some from Sindh along with mine illustrating their journey on my skin. I have inked my legs using art forms from Sindh (Ajrak) and from India (Madhubani) to tell the story of a land carried on the shoulders of its people and not rooted in any soil. My legs, symbolising our journey and my feet, the lack of our roots.

Director

Sapna has naturally assumed poster-child status as a powerful female figure. She traverse’s mainstream success with just as much ease as she skirts the underground youth art & culture movement. Ageless, fearless and forever metamorphosing in her endeavors, Sapna has recently begun giving her celebrity-hood the voice of an activist.

Just recently Sapna was awarded the “IBelieve” award and the “FemEmpowerment” Award for her work with ex sex workers by starting a free hair academy called Pathशाला.

Currently Sapna is writing a book tentatively titled “Chapter One,” The Creative Producer for award-winning film Mehsampur, and starting the festival journey with her directorial debut documentary called “Sindhustan”. Sindhustan was picked as one of the 24 films to pitch at DocEdge Kolkata where it won The Griffith Film School Award and premiered at The New York Indian Film Festival in May where it won Best Documentary Feature. The film has since travelled to AIFF, OIFFA, IFFStuttgart where it won Honorable Mention Documentary.

Actor, spoken word artist, hair stylist, writer, director, producer – Sapna embodies it all as a visionary and change-maker.

The rest, like they say, is herstory.

Director’s Note: My ancestors come from a land called Sindh which was a part of India till 1947. Post which India became independent and split into Pakistan. Sindh remained in Pakistan and the “Hindu” Sindhis were forced either to convert to Islam or leave their homeland. The Sindhi’s were peace loving people did not want violence. They left willingly in hordes leaving everything behind. This migration is the largest migration of a culture in history but very few, including Sindhis, are aware of it.

In India and worldwide, they had to learn a new language, adapt to new cultures, learn new trades, just to sustain. The lack of a physical “land” has led to the slow death of their culture and language and the new generation has no idea or access to their heritage.

It was important for me to document their journey so that the youth had something information. I carry the stories as witness on my legs in a hope that they will never die.

Festivals/Awards

DocEdge [Griffith Film Award]; NYIFF [Best Documentary Feature]; AIFF [Excellence In Cinema Award]; OIFFA; IFFStuttgart [Honourable Mention Documentary]