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40
August 6 ° 2009
A scene from Ocean of Pearls
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
S
arab Neelam and Jim Burnstein
made a movie deal, and it
seems to be a win-win arrange-
ment without a penny changing hands.
Neelam, a physician with dreams
of being a big-time filmmaker, got
Burnstein's production advice as he
pushed forward with his first fictional
work, Ocean of Pearls, which is based
on his own life.
Burnstein, a screenwriter
(Renaissance Man, D3: The Mighty
Ducks, Ruffian) whose day job is
screenwriting coordinator in the
Department of Screen Arts & Cultures
at the University of Michigan, refused
pay but did ask for unlimited access to
Neelam's medical advice.
The film that brought them
together will be shown Aug. 7-13 at
the Landmark Maple Art Theatre in
Bloomfield Township and Aug. 14-20
at the Emagine Canton and the AMC
Forum in Sterling Heights.
Ocean of Pearls, directed by Neelam,
tells of a man torn between the ways
of his family's traditional Sikh com-
munity and the ways of the profes-
sional and social community he is
entering as a doctor in America. It is
a drama about values as well as a love
story.
The film stars Omid Abtahi, Heather
McComb, Ron Canada and Navi Rawat.
"My feeling was that this is a uni-
versal story of coming to America and
facing assimilation, and I think it will
resonate with the Jewish community,"
explains Burnstein, who became exec-
utive producer after coaching Neelam
through the project's stages.
"As I learned about the Sikhs, I
noticed similarities with the Jews. For
example, both are monotheistic. Sarab,
in some ways, sounded like a relative."
Neelam, who moved from India to
Canada when he was 10, developed an
early interest in film that continued
as he pursued a career in medicine.
During his residency in Michigan, the
young doctor met screenwriter Kurt
Luedtke (Out of Africa), who intro-
duced him to Burnstein.
"I wrote a draft of a screenplay, but
it wasn't very good so Jim brought in
his talented former student V Prasad,"
Neelam says. "Being Indian and
brought up in the U.S.A. helped Prasad
understand my main character's
struggles, and we worked on the script
for three years with help from Jim
and Jeff ("The Dude") Dowd. Jeff was
extremely passionate and brought our
screenplay to a higher level."
As Burnstein got to know Neelam,
he became caught up with his per-
sonal stories and how they could apply
to film, but he did not hold a positive
outlook through the obstacle-filled
dramas from raising money to casting.
"Every step of the way, I told him it's
too hard," says Burnstein, whose most
recent project is the film Time of Your
Life, a true story about the poignant
legacy of an American soldier killed in
Iraq. "Sarab couldn't be stopped, and
he did it." ❑
Ocean of Pearls will be shown Aug. 7-13 at the Landmark Maple Art,
4135 W. Maple, in Bloomfield Township, (248) 855-9091; and Aug.14-20
at the Emagine Canton, 39535 Ford Road, (734) 721-3456, and the AMC
Forum, 44681 Mound Road, in Sterling Heights, (586) 254-1381.