How American-Indians are making winning at spelling bees a way of life

A still from the documentary, Breaking the Bee, that shows speller Akash Vukoti

It all started when Balu Natarajan won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1985 after he spelled the word, milieu. "One newspaper carried a headline that said [and I am paraphrasing], 'Son of immigrant wins Scripps'. A headline like that had never been out before," says Sam Rega, director of Breaking the Bee, a documentary that tries to decode why do so many South Asian Americans win the bee - 19 of the last 23 winners. "What that headline did was that it made all American Indians take notice - and they thought 'if he can do it, so can I'," says Rega.

So, could it be the way Indians see themselves being recognised in America? "Yes! Absolutely. There was a movie made on it, which was nominated for the Academy Award. Later, it started coming on ESPN, which is a channel every one watches. Indians were seeing themselves succeeding, and there was also community and family involved."
New York-based Rega, who has previously made the documentary League of Millions, about a team of professional video game players, follows four Indian-American students, aged 7 to 14, as they compete to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Sam Rega

Rega, who was born in New Jersey, and grew up in Florida, says that the concept of how an Indian family, especially one with a speller in it, operates, is what inspired him the most. "One of the children is 10-year-old Ashrita Gandhari. Her family really inspired me as they studied together. There is one scene in the movie where they are playing a game - they are figuring out root words based on a drawing of a face, which the mom is making on a board. And everyone is involved, and happy. I mean, I had a great childhood, but there weren't any moments like that."

When we point out that family bonding could be just because they are Indian, Rega says, "Yes, that's what I was told. I talked to another parent about this, and he said, 'It wasn't surprising for Indian families to be like this with their kids, as they were raised the same way too,'" says the 32-year-old American. Rega's biggest takeaway hence, has been that he wants to ensure he treats his children the same way.

For now, he is busy taking the movie to the festivals, where it has been running to packed halls. "The audience is always invested and you can hear groans and sighs, as the kids get the words right. Also, a lot of Indian Americans have come up to me later and told me that not only are they glad this part of their life has been showcased, but also that it hasn't been misrepresented."

Ask him if winning spelling bees means the speller has a brighter life, and Rega is positive it does. "It looks great on your resume when you are applying to colleges. It also makes you a better public speaker, reader and more confident and not afraid of hard work, all maybe intangible ways that better their lives." If there is a formula as to why Indians win spelling bees, Rega says it's not just the focus on studies and family values, "it's also the speller's drive". "Most kids I have spoken to are not doing this because they are being forced to by their parents, or because they are winning. They are doing this purely for the love of it."

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