Jason OLeary

Premise

When worlds collide.......

Themes

The central premise of Moti Gori is what we do when our worlds collide. This is an east meet west story, set in the east. How do we overcome generations of tradition when we don’t understand those traditions, when our personal interests come without thought for others? Do we really know what our own traditions and beliefs are before trying to understand others? Can we live happily ever after, if we don’t know what happiness is and the ramifications of our happiness on our partner?

The Story

Fat and 'over it' Lily with her best friend Matt both in their late twenties embark on the trip of their lives, three months backpacking around India, while Matt films his travel show “My Indian Family Dinner”. Arriving in Mumbai a holiday romance between Lilly and local bar owner Sunil quickly develops, quicker than anyone would expect. Sunil introduces Lily and Matt to his family; his mother (Shivani), father (Ankit) and his sister (Shruti).  They certainly weren't expecting someone like Lily.

Ankit and Shivani had always wanted an arranged marriage for Sunil, or at least a love match with a nice well brought up Indian girl of the same standing to theirs (if not better), so meeting this young brash larger than life overweight Australian moti gori is a bit of a shock. This is the story of people coming to terms with their own prejudices and preconceived ideas of how to live their lives and how we treat other people. How do we accept people with such contrasting traditions and beliefs?

What makes Moti Gori so different? Each episode of Moti Gori has a fully choreographed song and dance number (Bollywood style) specifically written for the show and in the pilot this is led by Lilly, giving us a glimpse into her willingness to assimilate and learn the cultures of her new Indian family whilst this isn’t always manifested in her actions or words.

About the writer / producer (Jason O'Leary)

I graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Master of Enterprise in 2012 and am currently studying the Master of Producing at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).

I have produced theatre in the UK and have worked as an actor’s agent as a director of KT Management (with Tony Nikolakopoulos). During this time I produced the comedy pilot teaser “You Don’t Know Jack” starring George Kapiniaris based on his experiences as an agent.  This reinvigorated my passion for TV and comedy and has led me to Moti Gori and my studies at the VCA.

I am currently in post production with the short film "Never-ending, Ever-changing" written and directed by Amir Rezai.

"Moti Gori" brings together my love of television, comedy and film with the exuberance of Bollywood. I is very excited to be working with Swastik Productions in Mumbai to realise this production, Swastik have produced many shows for broadcast in India such as Navya (STAR PLUS), Hindi Hum Hai (REAL), Ambher Dara (SONY ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION) and Gyaan Guru (IMAGINE) to name a few.

Why a POZIBLE campaign - where's the money going....

Firstly the budget for the pilot is $25,000 and I have so far secured $20,500 of that budget from various sources including being awarded the Jim Marks Scholarship (Faculty of the VCA and MCM, University of Melbourne), sponsorship from the Australia India Institute (www.aii.unimelb.edu.au) and a fantastic private business Melbourne Pipe Lines.  So currently $4,500 short of the budget.

In India all cast and crew will be paid, but the $4,500 is still required to make the song and dance number an extravaganza - the money is going to make a huge difference on screen in a big way, it's the difference of having 20 dancers instead of 5 and the difference in being able to afford several costume changes in the dance number instead of none.  

Its going to make it a WOW - instead of an Oh!

So I hope you will jump on board to support 'Moti Gori' which I believe is an interesting fusion of Australian comedy meets Indian soap and nothing we have ever seen before (and if I am wrong please feel free to send me a link to a video - I'd love to see it!).

Casting Update

I am pleased to announce that Tammy Fitzgerald has been officially cast to play the lead role of 'Lily' in Moti Gori. Tammy will be flying to Mumbai in early December for rehearsals and the four day shoot.

Tammy begins dance classes next week in Melbourne to get her ready for the role. She has previously been seen in Kath & Kim, Blue Heelers, The Murray Whelan Series (The Brush-Off and The Stiff) and The Games.

She has also had her own comedy show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival: Man Hunt Live, she has also been seen in numerous TV commercials including for Xenical, Just Jeans and Tampax.

We are very pleased that Tammy has accepted the role of Lily and look forward to shooting in Mumbai in December.

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Namaste.