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"Call it George A. Romero's Bollywood Office Space … an enraged critique of Western excess that you can dance to." – Slant
Meet the people on the other side of the telemarketing boom: India's industrious call centre operators. We call them John or Jane, but their names are as false as the hopes they are peddled. Extensive training grooms them to pitch products into US homes, taking abuse and responding to rudeness as part of the job; however behind every call is an ambitious worker coveting the lifestyle at the end of the line.
In John & Jane, director Ashim Ahluwalia (Miss Lovely, MIFF 2012) follows six Mumbai residents daring to dream that their fluorescent-lit employment means more than just the outsourcing of Western duties. From accent elimination to cultural assimilation, they're often enthusiastic drinkers of the American Kool-Aid.
Shooting on 35mm for a feature-like result, with John & Jane Ahluwalia delves into the bizarre, identity-warping human impact of the current economic reality.