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| Last days on the set in Mumbai - Photo by Arpit Shukla |
Well, where to start? The adventure in India is over. Long over actually, but frankly it hasn't been easy to relate the story and of course, wrapping it up and getting into something new has been consuming.
I left India in April, about two weeks after the last posting. It was at that time that the true nature of my deal with Indian VFX company and the true nature of the deal between that company and the Production Company making the movie was revealed. In short, the VFX Company had promised a lot of things to both myself and the Production Company and due to either losses in other facets of their business or because it was beyond their reach in the first place, they simply quit paying me. I resigned when the situation became untenable back home with no money coming in and then when there was no response at all to that declared them in breach of contract and when there was no response to that, I came home. I believe the VFX Company figured that the Production Company would pay me in order to keep me on the show. Although that was possible up to a point, it was very difficult to for me or my family to see how it was going to all work out, so I cut my losses and got on a plane while I still had a valid ticket in my hand.
So John is no longer in India. It was a unique experience and of course not exactly what I expected, though truthfully I had few enough expectations coming in. I knew it would be something beyond my previous experience. That's all to the good. My impressions of India are of a country and culture with a rich history, but one which is ultimately very insular and homogeneous. It is a world unto itself, overpopulated to the point of paralysis and largely unaware of the world beyond its borders. There is a culture within that is accepted even though few are content about it. As through much if not all of India's history, the wealthy have their way and the poor accept their lot. A democratic government has replaced the rule of monarchs with a rule of disassociated oligarchs who have managed to characterize the government as bungling and corrupt and incapable of running things. In fact, this does appear to be the truth. So those with money do what they want: cheat the system, pay few taxes and exploit everyone that it is possible to exploit. I was told that that is "how it works" in India. I will argue that it actually doesn't work at all for most Indians but it does seem to be working for the people who told me that. They probably think that that's how it works everywhere and while that's true to some extent there are balances in power in the West that are not evident at all in India. I have never believed in trickle-down anyway but India has shown me what it would be like if we really did let the richest Americans have things exclusively their own way with no interference from the government. I didn't like it.
I am truly sorry that I was unable to stay and finish the film. I was told by some that if I really felt that way then I would have stayed, so maybe I am overstating it, at least in Indian terms. I respect and admire the filmmakers, the performers and the artists who cared enough to really work to make the film something notable. I do wish them well and have every confidence that they will make a great movie that will be the big hit that it deserves to be.
Like most good yarns, this story does have a sequel. That saga will be continued elsewhere on The Delusion Dog Blog.
Thanks for reading.
