Welcome to the brave new India of today
Produced by Public Service Broadcast Trust (PSBT)Public Service Broadcast Trust
Directed and Edited by Nandini Bedi
Distributed by SynclinefilmstoreSynclinefilmstore
With English you can take the world head on
‘It is not that we are not knowing English. It is just that we are knowing it in our own way only. Tell your name please’.
Many Indians tend not to use the simple present tense when they speak English. An English flavored by India is recognized as ‘Indian English’. According to data from Google, Indians search for English training more than any other peoples of the world. My latest documentary ‘Simple Present Future Perfect‘ is a look at one of the ‘kinds’ of English being taught in a school for ‘English Training and Personality Development’ in Mumbai, India. Students are expected to speak Indian English and be comfortable with it. On the board, hangs a newspaper clip ‘Indian English will take over the world’ – an idea expressed by a famous Welsh linguist. ‘Yes’ says the director of the Mumbai school. ‘It will. There are more Indians speaking English today than in any other part of the English speaking world. And numbers count’.
Welcome to the brave new India of today.
Screenings
Open Frame Film Festival, Delhi – Sept. 2009
Open Space, Delhi- Oct. 2010