VCU news

By Tom Gresham

Sonali Gulati is wary of attention. She talks softly and somewhat reluctantly about herself, concealing the ardor with which she pursues her work. Gulati has strongly held ideas and opinions. She would just rather show you than tell you about them.

Gulati, an assistant professor of filmmaking at VCU, was struck five years ago when a telemarketer named Harry Smith called her apartment in Philadelphia and pronounced her name with effortless precision. Gulati was accustomed to being able to identify — and therefore deflect — telemarketers by the various ways in which they would stumble over her name.

Instead of just letting it pass, Gulati followed her curiosity and peppered Harry with questions. She soon learned that his name was not Harry but Harvinder, and that he was calling from her hometown of New Delhi in India. The two talked about the daily news in New Delhi before the conversation turned to how Harvinder came to be calling Philadelphia for a U.S. credit card company. Gulati was surprised to learn that Western companies were outsourcing telemarketing services to Indian call centers.

Gulati, always eager to explore an idea with her camera, decided to make a film on the topic. The result is “Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night,” a short documentary film that has attracted attention for its innovative style and lucid perspective on globalization and the telemarketing work force in India. The film has already appeared at a number of film festivals, including the prestigious Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Natural History Museum in New York, and more showings in various parts of the country are scheduled this spring.

In addition, Gulati’s film has been selected by WYBE, the PBS station in Philadelphia for its “Philadelphia Stories” series.

However, the most conspicuous recognition so far for “Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night” was the director’s choice award — third-place prize — it earned in the Black Maria Film and Video Festival in February. The Black Maria festival is one of the leading independent film festivals in the country and is recognized as an Academy Award qualifying festival for short films (documentary, animation and live action).

Black Maria’s prize-winners earn a spot on the organization’s traveling festival, which visits venues in nearly 70 cities in the United States. The festival will stop at the Grace Street Theater in Richmond on March 10. “Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night” is slotted for an 8 p.m. showing.

“I’m excited the film seems to have generated some interest,” Gulati said.

Gulati’s initial plans were to make a straightforward documentary that detailed the extent of the outsourcing of U.S. telemarketing jobs to India and examined the conditions for workers. However, the outsourcing arrangement soon became front-page news in the United States, and Gulati understood her documentary would have to go beyond the news. She decided to “talk from the perspective of an Indian living in the United States.”

Harvinder and other Indians who were working in the industry acquired American names, learned to speak with an American accent and clocked in for a workday that aligned with Eastern Standard Time. They studied American culture in case small talk broke out during a sales call and generally labored to keep the U.S. consumers they contacted unaware of their identities and their location on a distant continent.

The arrangement raised several questions for Gulati, who came to the United States 13 years ago. Her friends in India forgave her for leaving home, she said, because she did not camouflage her Indian accent. Yet here she was — an Indian with an Indian name and accent living in the United States — talking to an Indian with an American name and American accent living in India.

“Most of my work is very personal,” Gulati said. “I feel like I have to have a connection to it. I’m always asking myself, ‘Why am I making this film? What can I bring to it that someone else can’t?’ With this film, I knew what I could bring.”

“Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night” mixes interviews, animation, which Gulati created herself, archival footage and new footage to tell its story, which Gulati helps guide with voice-over narration. Most of the footage was shot in India, including scenes set in a call center in India. Gulati imbues the production with humor and an inquisitive eye, keeping her audience entertained and engaged throughout.

Most of Gulati’s previous film work had been fictional productions marked by experimental narratives. She took that ethos to the making of “Nalini,” showing an interest in stretching documentary film norms. For instance, the film opens with a blending of animation and some re-created telemarketing calls, which were voiced by Gulati and some friends. The real-life “Harry” becomes the eponymous “Nancy” in the film.

“I tried to use some different genres,” Gulati said. “I merged some documentary and fiction techniques. I’m interested in exploring that space that’s between them.”

Gulati said this kind of hybrid film played more to her strengths than a purely non-fiction documentary would.

“There’s a journalistic piece to this, but I know I’m not a journalist,” Gulati said. “I think of myself as an artist and that’s how I approached this. Ultimately, I want to make films about stories that are not talked about. What really drives me are issues of social justice. I want to contribute to changing the way people think about the world around them.”

The widespread outsourcing to India of the telemarketing jobs has been “great for the Indian economy,” Gulati said. Jobs are created for the telemarketing professionals, as well as for maintenance workers, taxi cab drivers (because the telemarketers work in the middle of the night, firms send taxicabs to safely deliver them to and from their homes), food service employees (meals at call centers are catered for free) and the instructors who drill workers on American accents and culture. Gulati cited Sanjiv Bikchandani, who heads India’s largest recruitment firm, naukri.com, who estimates one telemarketing job leads to the creation of four others.

Gulati said her fears that call center employees endured difficult workplace conditions were quickly assuaged when she visited one during an overnight shift. She found the call center a lively place brimming with employees between the ages of 18 and 24, resulting in a sort of “college environment.” The workers’ monthly salary of $300 seems slim by U.S. standards, but compares to what M.B.A. graduates earn in India, Gulati said, making the telemarketing jobs highly sought after.

However, what initially unsettled Gulati about the arrangement – the pseudonyms and fake accents of the workers – remained a concern for her the more she delved into the culture.

In one poignant scene in “Nalini,” a well-educated young man stammers through an interview for an open position at a call center. The man has interviewed several times before for similar posts, and he explains to the camera his eagerness to land one of these jobs. Still, the man’s attempt at an American accent falls well short of the interviewer’s standards.

A call center representative defended the subterfuge of the accents and American names by explaining that it keeps the Indian callers from being subjected to racist customers.

“It’s as though they just have decided to accept the fact that people are going to be racist,” Gulati said.

Although she prefers to let her film do her talking, Gulati said she is learning some of the promotional duties necessary to attracting an audience. The issues raised in “Nalini” – identity and globalization, in particular – are obvious sparks for further discussion. To that end, Gulati will be attending some screenings of her film to discuss it with audiences, including April visits to the University of Indiana, Rutgers University and the University of Virginia.

“It’s something I’m getting used to,” Gulati said.