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An eye in the sky
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Aeronautical engineer-turned-film producer of the recently released Offshore, T. S. Dayananda, tells MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER his next film will be set in Bangalore
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Face off Carol tells her Indian trainees a few home truths
“Offshore”, is an effective little film that looks at the concept of outsourcing from multiple points of view. Producer T. S. Dayananda, who has produced silver jubilee hits in Kannada like “Nanna Preetiya Hudugi” and “Paris Pranaya” says: “I have been thinking of this since 2004 I thought it was a global idea and it made sense to make it in English.”
Dayananda, who was research assistant on a project in aeronautical engineering in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, before moving to Detroit, says: “The competition is fierce. Earlier American companies were competing with Europe. With globalisation, the competition is from Asia.”
He elaborates: “CEOs are under tremendous pressure and it is the worker who suffers in the final count. In America, those in their 20s and 30s might find it tough if they lose their jobs, but they will just go and look for another job.”
“Older people, say those in their 40s and 50s, live from pay check to pay check and they have mortgages to pay, children going to college, and have health care issues. The company pays the health insurance. If they lose their job, they lose health insurance as well. That is why in the movie, Carol, the elderly trainer, reacts so strongly at the thought of losing her job.” While Carol is the obvious villain in the film, Dayananda says: “The film is dedicated to the workers of the world. The shareholders are the villains. The money flows to the executives. There is nothing much for the salaried employees.”
“Offshore” is written, directed and edited by Diane Cheklich and tells the story of a face off between the employees of an American call centre and the Indians who are hired in their stead. “Diane was production manager for the Telugu movie, ‘Premaya Namaha’ that I produced. She has a management background and has made many short films and documentaries. So she was the perfect choice. ‘Offshore’ was something I would have liked to direct. But there was no time,” says Dayananda.
Taking time off is a problem, he admits. “The film was shot in Detroit and Mumbai and the shooting schedules were carefully planned to the last second so I could manage with a couple of weeks of vacation.”
“Offshore” is refreshing because it looks at a different aspect of the immigrant story. “America is a nation of immigrants. And there are Indians there who are settled into the American way of life and do not want to return. That is the logic behind the Satish character’s decision to throw his lot with the Americans.”
Dayananda says: “Racism is not an issue in the movie. ‘Offshore’ is more about survival. One can only be racist on a full stomach.”
While the Hindi film industry is represented with Satish Shah, Dayananda says he wanted to get veteran actor Kathy Bates for Carol’s role. “When we were casting I looked at getting Hollywood actors. But then I decided to take local people from Chicago. Maybe for my next film, I will cast from Hollywood. We are already in talks.”
There are two movies in the pipeline. “I am working on a film that would be set in Bangalore. It would be conventional in that there is a hero and heroine but it would also be experimental in treatment. There is also an English movie in the works. The film looks at peace as a tool to fight terrorism.”
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