I sat down with the incomparable Geeta Sidhu-Robb for a podcast conversation, and let me tell you, there is recording an episode and then there is being lovingly interrogated by someone who specialises in extracting the truth behind the truth. Geeta does the latter. Effortlessly. Relentlessly. Brilliantly.
Our conversation took me right back to the moment everything shifted. Because the journey up Mount Kilimanjaro wasn’t something I had spent my life preparing for. It wasn’t part of a grand plan. It wasn’t even on my vision board. It started with a single decision in my 40s, a quiet personal commitment to choose a life that stretched me rather than shrank me.
That choice led to something far bigger than I could have imagined: leading the first all South Asian women’s group to summit Mount Kilimanjaro.
When a Trip Became a Story
There was a moment during the climb, not at the summit or even at a dramatically scenic point, where something clicked. I looked around at these women representing mothers, daughters and grandmothers, professionals and business owners, first-timers and lifelong adventurers, all united by a desire to take up space in a terrain where we rarely see ourselves.
And I felt it viscerally: This isn’t just a trek. This is a story. And it has to be documented.
I had no filmmaking experience. I didn’t have a production plan. I barely had the vocabulary. But I had purpose. And sometimes purpose is enough to get you moving.
Crowdfunding £80k With Nothing But Faith
We started from zero with no funding or industry contacts. Just conviction and a community that understood why this story mattered.
People backed the project because they felt what I felt: that representation isn’t a luxury, it shifts what we believe is possible. In the end we crowdfunded £80,000 from scratch. Every pound was a testament to community power and collective belief.
The Filmmaker Who Was Always Meant to Be Part of the Journey
As with many things in my life, the right person showed up through community.
A South Asian female filmmaker, someone who not only understood the assignment but understood the heart behind it, came into our orbit. She brought the vision to life with integrity and artistry and a deep sense of responsibility for the story we were telling.
And that’s when the film stopped being my story and became ours.
The Power of Being Seen
Representation often gets reduced to a buzzword but for me it is profoundly practical. When we see someone who looks like us doing something we thought was reserved for others it stretches our sense of possibility.
That is why we climbed.
That is why we filmed.
That is why we told the story.
A Final Word From Geeta
In classic Geeta fashion, at one point I referred to myself as being “shameless” for pushing this project into the world. She didn’t even let me finish the sentence.
“The word is bloody minded, Rupinder.”
And she is right.
Because sometimes you need to be bloody minded to change the narrative for the next woman who is watching, wondering and waiting for permission she shouldn’t need in the first place.
