Watch: Hindu Kush To Thames – Documentary On Sikhs From Afghanistan

In this documentary, Pritpal Singh focuses, again, on the Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities, but this time through the lens of Afghan immigrants to the United Kingdom, particularly Southall.

 

By carefully juxtaposing the lives left behind, with lives in the adopted homes, the sacrifices and struggles of the communities are masked with vibrant displays of faith, music, food and dance.

 

The documentary also presents rare video footage of the Sikh traditions in Kabul in the late 1980s, alongside Ardas, in the nearly empty diwan halls of Kabul today, and the vibrant and overflowing Hall of Gurudwara Southall, London.

 

With touching depictions of the dilapidated mandirs and Gurudwaras in Kabul and impressive retention of their roots across generations on foreign soil, Bechthold and Singh share the story of immigrants who are rarely covered in Afghan mainstream media or Sikh media.