Akkara Kazhchakal , directed by Abi Varghese, proved to be a hit among young Malayalis who were hooked to the foibles of a Malayali family settled in the United States (U.S.). Abi now moves on a new sit-com in English, Brown Nation , which premieres on Netflix on November 15. Produced by Prakash Bare, Naveen Chathappuram, Thampy Antony and Charles Leslie among others, Brown Nation is an entertainer that follows the ups and downs of the owner of a small IT start-up in New York, and his family.
The series has been created and written by Matt Grubb, George Kanatt and Abi himself.
It demystifies the great Indian-Amercian dream and tackles the many shades of life of non-resident Indians in the U.S. Rajeev Varma, Omi Vaidya, Shenaz Treasurywala and Melanie Chandra are some of the actors.
In an e-mail interview Prakash talks about Brown Nation . Excerpts.
What is the focus of Brown Nation ?
Brown Nation mainly focusses on the life of Indian and other ‘brown skinned’ communities living in the U.S. The plot revolves around an IT firm and home of an Indian entrepreneur, Hasmukh, who lives in New York. It is also a satire on the life of New Yorkers caught in the rat race.
What is the advantage of Netflix and other Internet platforms for filmmakers and actors?
Internet platforms (Netflix is one of them) is going to be the major support for the content creators. It allows you to create content without bothering too much about the constraints of the industry - stardom, censorship, formulae put forward by distributers, channels and other industry forces, TRP etc.
The U.S. has seen tremendous growth of OTT platforms at the cost of films and cable TVs. It is going to happen in India also in the coming years. The main reason is the transparency the new platform offers to the creators and the audience. To a great extent it liberates the audience from the so-called majority taste that you are forced to watch on films and TV shows these days.
You have a terrific cast... what was the attraction for them to act in the show?
It was more like a start-up venture. Abi represented both talent and trustworthiness for rest of the crew. Akkara Kazhchakal was a great inspiration for all the cast and crew who came on board without a huge upfront pay. NYC is also a great location where you can find highly talented, trained and committed artists and technicians from around the world who are ready to take the risk to demonstrate their skills.
Abi has proved himself with Akkara... What was it about the show that attracted you as a producer?
I love Abi's subtle way of film making. A great example is his short film Return Address which went to the Short film corner in Cannes. And I am a strong believer of the need to connect Indian talent with the global demand for creative content. This project is a great example for that. Content for Internet platforms is an area I am planning to focus on and Brown Nation was a great opportunity to start on that journey.
