Becoming Atma

Olivier was a Catholic man from France, the country of "baguette, cheese, wine, and Bordeaux." Then he found Japji Sahib. "It was the scripture I was waiting for a long time," he says, "and I didn't even know I was waiting for something." His wife introduced him to yoga, and they both became Sikh together, eventually visiting the Golden Temple as a family. His father, a practicing Catholic, responded with genuine warmth. His mother took years to come around. He tied a turban, took the name Atma Singh, and began building a medicinal tea business, 19 blends, 20,000 tea bags a day, with a Sikh mantra spoken at the end of each batch. "I put the value before the business aspect," he says simply.

Then came the worst day of his life. His wife died in a mountain accident while jogging, found beneath a cliff. Their daughter was nine. What follows isn't a story about grief overcoming faith or faith overcoming grief. It's about a blue-eyed Frenchman who balances two identities honestly, raises his daughter with intention, and runs a business where spirituality isn't a marketing angle but a daily practice. "It's not a religion," he says. "It's a lifestyle." This Sikhlens film tells the story of a man who crossed every conventional boundary to become himself.