Sara Stearns

Migration and Art 309

Greene

Sonali Gulati

After watching Gulati’s film in class, “Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night”, I was truly inspired by her message of the movie. It really opened my eyes, and changed my perspective of the issue of Indian Call centers. I always tended to have a sort of bitterness towards the concept of outsourcing. Too often I would see articles about companies sending jobs overseas from the United States, especially to India. In seeing her film, and in seeing a different perspective, it was extremely fascinating. This led me to want to explore her films more and to see what type of artist she is. I was interested in what the ideology was behind her films, and what she was trying to accomplish as an artist. After researching Gulati, I have come to realize that she is an important artist that is using the medium of film to address current important issues, and is trying to bring these issues to our attention in a successful way. The issues of globalization and identity are important concepts to everyone, and Gulati does a successful job of conveying the messages she wants to get across to her viewers.

Gulati is originally from New Delhi, India. She received her B.A. degree in Critical Social Thought from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She went on to get a M.F.A. in Film and Media Arts from Temple University in 2004. She has made many short films that have been represented in over 200 film festivals worldwide including the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, and include countries such as Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Her areas of specialization are film production and experimental filmmaking. She has won numerous awards such as her recent Theresa Pllak Award for Excellence in the Arts in Film. She currently teaches film production and experimental filmmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts.

In looking at her artist statement, Gulati is very interested in the politics of “representation” in mass media. She asks questions such as who has the power to represent whom? She wants to create films for those she feels are under represented or are too often silenced. She is passionate about social change, particularly on issues of identity issues such as race, class, gender, and sexuality. She is focused on how these different categories interact with one another or how there maybe spaces between them. She is not afraid to experiment with the media, often mixing traditional documentary methods and combining them with a fictional aspect. Sometimes this includes creating and making the fictional more transparent in her films. She isn’t afraid to find innovative ways to tell her story. This can include having multiple points-of views such as in “Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night”. Her ultimate goal is to share narratives that are both transformative and compelling. Her goal is to not only find innovative ways of storytelling, but to also create films as organizing tool, in hopes of affecting those who view the films. In turn she her ultimate goal is to make these films in hopes of making the world a more safe, sustainable, and just world.

According to The Economist, it is estimated that outsourcing by U.S. companies is likely to increase by 30 to 40 percent over the next five years, and this will result in the loss of about 200,000 jobs a year in services over the next decade. In looking towards her most popular film, “Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night” Gutlati is able to use transnational cinema to convey the effects and specifically cultural impact on those Indian employees working in a call center. It explores the complex issues of globalization, capitalism, and identity though her personal account of a journey into India’s call centers. We can see specifically in the examples of the employees who are told to take on Western names, accents, as well as fake American lives. These employees are forced to live by American calendars and American holidays, sacrificing their own culture and identity. Even with these hardships, there is a high demand for these jobs due to the relatively high pay, and stable employment. One will often take classes if needed to perfect their accents, and to educate themselves about American life. She uses animation, archival footage, as well as live action shots with narrative work to highlight these important and complicated issues of globalization.

She has many other examples of films that help to convey her ideology of purpose of filmmaking. Many of these films are related to her identity and culture of being from India. In her film, “I Am”, she explores the issue of homosexuality, and exploring the perspectives of South Asian parents of gay and lesbian. The film journeys to a landscape where being gay is considered a criminal and punishable offense. She looks to see if there is a resolution, and we watch these stories unfold that are typically made to stay in secrecy and silence. She explores the issue of homosexuality further in her film, “Sum Total” where she examines the life of a lesbian whose family is putting pressure on her to get married. The film tries to answer and address the issue of identity, self-representation, and the idea of heterosexuality as the standard. In her film “Bare feet” she addresses an Indian women’s attempt at revealing a secret to her family. It explores the meaning of “home” from a transnational perspective, and raises important questions about identity, sexuality, secrecy, and nostalgia. In “Name I Call Myself”, she uses a single shot, and explores her self-identity as well as knowledge about herself through her name. Finally, in her film “24 Frames a Day”, she uses an interesting idea of combining 24 photographs captured ever day over a period of 9 months. In turn she uses these photographs to create a political film that raises questions regarding immigration, cultural stereotypes, and identity.

As I explore Gulati’s work further, I expect to find even more insight into her bigger picture of her films, and her contributions as a filmmaker and artist.

Bibliography

1. "America's Pain, India's Gain". The Economist January 2003: 57-57.

2. Gulati , Sonali. "Sonali Gulati". VCU School of the Arts. 03/10/2010 .

3. Ezra & Rowden, Elizabeth & Terry. Transnational Cinema, The Film Reader. New York: Routledge, 2006.