The tug-of-war between freedom and fear is partly what Yazzad Rabadi peeks at in his short film, The Beard. Zoroastrian by descent, Yazzad, 'Yaz' Rabadi, who spent the first years of his life in Khareghat Colony, near Chowpatty, moved to Canada at age four. "I believe my parents moved to provide more opportunity for my sister and I" says the director of the fictional short film that compels viewers to consider the dilemma of an elderly Sikh immigrant to Canada, a victim of a violent hate crime, in a country where Sikhs have countered a spate of hate crimes over the last few years and where, just last month, a Hindu temple was vandalised by youths who left a baseball bat (inscribed with a Sikh surname and the Khanda symbol) behind, ostensibly to create friction between the communities.

Last year, Canadian, Dave Foran emailed a Punjabi radio station there with the words, 'Lose the traditions or stay in India' in the subject line. When interviewed by radio-show-host Phillip Till later, Foran elaborated on his stance saying, "Your long beards, turbans, clothes and waddling as you follow each other down the street is enough to make us sick."