As the city is gearing up for the Global Investors Meet on June 3, Maya Chandra is busy giving finishing touches to the seven films she is about to showcase at the two-day summit.
With the focus areas being automotive, infrastructure, aerospace, food processing, textiles, IT and biotechnology, the horizon looks even more stretched out for the film-maker this time.
“It’s good to see the Government embrace the medium of films to reach out to the audience,” says the corporate communicator, who has extensively made films for business and promotions for the Government.
During the IT boom, as the technology sector witnessed a big leap, so did the state’s interest in showcasing the resources.
“The first film I made was called The Power of Bangalore: Make IT yours.
Then came Karnataka: Genetically Engineered for the Future. The concept corporate films in the Government circuit came about ten years ago. It began with the department of IT, but now even the departments of food processing and textiles are using the concept to showcase their growth and development to potential investors,” she points out.
It was in 1989 that Maya Chandra returned to hometown Bangalore from Boston after completing an eventful year in video film production at Emerson College, Boston. She came home to find the broadcasting industry still limping around in embryonic stages, but that didn’t disillusion her or stop her from hanging around in small studios looking for serial and advertisement snippets to edit. When she formed her company, Maya, in 2000, the corporate communication circuit was still in its nascent stages.
She remembers the time when YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh called her to make the film, Andhra Pradesh: The most preferred Business Destination.
“It was after the chaotic spell of Chandrababu Naidu. The Government thought making a film would be a good way to remind the people that the state has a lot of potential,” she notes.
Feature films were never her area of interest, she admits. “The industry I’m in is extremely demanding,” says Maya.
“You have about six minutes to capture the entire message. That’s challenging and I like it.”
