John & Jane Toll-Free is a documentary film about people in India who work at night answering American 1-800 calls. Shot on 35mm and composed with unsettling grace, this documentary finds an original and fitting language to express the eerie dislocation of virtual work. The lives depicted are real, but the film’s approach gives those lives the scope of speculative fiction. In the film Glen and Sydney have taken Western names, partly for convenience, partly for pleasure. They sleep during the daytime and work in the middle of their night, following American business hours. Neither of them has ever left India. As part of their training, they learn the meanings that work, money and God hold for Americans. In classes they study shopping flyers as though they were textbooks. Some begin to adopt American values as their own. One dreams of buying his own Spanish-style villa. Another notes, “Everyone who’s ever gone to America gets rich.” When their shifts end, Glen and Sydney go back to traditional Indian homes with simple amenities. This cinematic portrait shows these people to be products of America, but also of India and of their own fantasies.

Ashim Ahluwalia was born in Mumbai and studied film at Bard College in New York. He currently lives and works in Mumbai, where he founded his own independent production company. Thin Air (1999), his first documentary, won the best film award at Film South Asia in 1999.

Producer: Shumona Goel Cinematographer: Mohanan K.U., Mukul Kishore Editor: Ashim Ahluwalia, Shai Heredia Music: Masta’ Justy