 |
 |
HBO: What drew you to this story?
Ashim Ahuwalia: For me, the idea of virtual "call agents" with fake American identities who talked on the phone all night seemed straight out of science fiction. I imagined that this job must have some odd psychological side effects, because it is quite a bizarre job if you think about it. I started meeting people who worked as "call agents" and came across some really amazing characters.
HBO: What did you discover while making the film that you didn't expect?
Ashim Ahuwalia: I wanted to make a film about young people in Mumbai today. Shooting a film set in a call centre seemed like a natural way of looking at a part of this new generation -- future Indians who live in India and "abroad" simultaneously. What we discovered while making this film was incredible -- characters who, after working for a while, had a hard time separating the real Indian world in which they lived from the virtual "American" one that they occupied at work.
HBO: The individuals in the film come to identify almost completely with their American aliases, and, in many ways, reject their own cultural values. Why do you think that is?
Ashim Ahuwalia: It is not "just another job" -- that is obvious. You work all night and sleep in the day, you occupy another name and identity and you ultimately discard the culture and language that you practice at home for an American version that is seen as "better". The entire industry is geared toward America and as such it is a "simulacrum" of America - A copy of a copy which has been so dissipated in its relation to the original that it can no longer be said to be a copy. This is a new form of "American culture" that exists here in India far away from America and Americans.
HBO: What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?
Ashim Ahuwalia: The film, for me, is basically the story of someone who starts out hating their job and ends up loving it so much that it takes over their entire existence. Instead of focusing on one character, I decided to spread that journey over six people. It then becomes more about a generation than a single individual. The film's style allows for different viewers to pick up on different things -- no two people ever seem to be watching the same film when they see it, the reactions are so different. I think that helps the film from being judgmental.
|
|
|
|
|
