Sundog Pictures
Sundog Pictures recently chose award-winning producer director Ashok Prasad to work in India.
The work was commissioned by Virgin Group and its Partner responsible for original content, Nick Fox.
The rapidly-growing Sundog Pictures company was founded by Sam Branson. Some senior Sundog creative team members involved with the shoot are; Sam, a social entrepreneur, adventurer and philanthropist, Johnny Webb, Co-Founder and Sundog MD, and Iris Maor, Director of Production and Operations.
Sundog makes many programmes across the world, including India. It is already acclaimed as a company that dares to be different -successfully.
Sam Branson said, “We believe in the power of television, film, and digital to tell stories that matter, and bring new audiences to important subjects. That’s why Johnny Webb and I founded Sundog Pictures in 2012.
And because the digital world is such a great way for storytellers to disrupt the way people think, act, share and engage, we wanted to create a different kind of production company; One based on ‘social production’, where engagement and ‘shareability’ were hardwired into the way we tell our stories. We want to change the way people watch- and share.”
In 2012 Sundog delivered its first terrestrial commission, “Turtle Boy,” for National Geographic USA and Channel 4. The combination of sensitive film-making and social media engagement increased C4’s UK slot average by 75%. Sundog has gone on to make many more series and shows that have earned plaudits.
Ashok Prasad
Ashok Prasad has made documentaries for international broadcasters for the past twenty years. Ashok specialises in social documentaries, historical films and current affairs programmes. He has made more than twenty films for the BBC and C4 and films for other broadcasters. Recent credits for BBC include Welcome to India (about grass roots entrepreneurs), The Sun Says Sorry and Other Tales of Forgiveness and The Blair Years – which involved filming Tony Blair’s last three months in office including meetings with Bush, Gadaffi and Mandela. Credits for C4 include A Little Bit OCD with comedian Jon Richardson and The Twins Who Share a Body (about a pair of conjoined twins in Amritsar).
Earlier in his career,Ashok worked on the Emmy-award winning historical series The Cuban Missile Crisis and has sincetwice been nominated for an RTS award for best network documentary. As well as a director, Ashok is an accomplished camera operator and often shoots his own films.
A former Further Education teacher, Ashok is passionate about media training. He has worked with several leading charities and public institutions including Oxfam, BBC Persian TV and the BBC World Service Trust. He is on the advisory committee for the Sheffield Documentary Festival.
Before working in media he took an Electrical Engineering degree at Sheffield University and then worked as a Maths and Physics teacher.
Ashok has been to India, sent there by Sundog Pictures. He said, “I try to do a mixture of films in India and in other parts of the world. That includes the UK. I try not to just do Indian films, otherwise there is a danger that you get typecast.
I pick and choose my stories. Most of the projects I do are already commissioned by channels, and then I am asked to make the films. Most of what I do is observational, people-based stories; quite intimate. To do with individuals and their lives.”
Ashok felt the heat in the capital city. He compared filming in the UK with filming in India.
“At the moment it's 44 degrees in Delhi, a temperature never reached in the UK. In some ways shooting in India is easier, because you don't have the same level of red tape.
If you are away from the big cities, people are not cynical about being filmed in the way they are in Britain. They are much more open about telling you about their lives. As long as you approach them with some humility and sensitivity, people are quite happy to share their stories.
The difficulty is logistical; distances, the heat, communication. The equipment is sometimes not so readily available so if you have a problem with your equipment, you may not be able to get it so easily repaired.”
Ashok has lots of ideas he would like to film, but he chose one from his wish list.
“I'm very interested in the revival of Buddhism in India. I would like to do a film that traces the spread of India to the surrounding countries; Tibet, Burma, where Buddhism is more ingrained into the culture and look at how Buddhism is returning to India.”
Sundog Pictures clearly has a bright and rosy future and will continue to provide director-producers like Ashok Prasad with interesting projects to work on.
