Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - March 2009 - Index

Benzi Mathews describes
Toronto as “a sleepy place”.
The Big Mallu Party is
a wake-up call, then?
Mathews laughs.
“I’m not God’s answer to the
problem – if you can call it a
problem. But we definitely have
a situation! I mean, I see people
come out of a show, a very average
show, and go, ‘What a
great experience!’ and I want to
say, come on! We can do better
than that! I believe the audience
deserves better. I believe the
community has young people
with talent, but few opportunities
to showcase this talent. Of
course, there are cultural shows
and a lot of gigs, but these kids
have more talent than the opportunities
offered by these
14 Desi News March 2009
Wake up and enjoy the show
shows.
“See, with my experience in
film production, getting a star
like Kamala Hassan to come
to Toronto is not a big challenge,
I can do it. But I wanted
something different. Something
the community can identify
with and take pride in. I
have a talent base, I have a support
base, I have the experience,
and I believe we can deliver.
This is my passion.”
Mathews came to Canada in
THE BIG MALLU PARTY
2003 from Chennai, basically to
check the place out, to explore
options. Not really with a
mindset to migrate, he says, but
having travelled to the Middle
East, the Far East and to Australia
on work and leisure, he
wanted to see what life in Europe
and North America had to
offer. He wanted to experience
the work culture, the mindset.
In Chennai, Mathews was in
the entertainment business.
Working in partnership with
room WITH A POINT OF VIEW
NARI MAVALWALLA /DESI NEWS
John, a screenplay writer and director,
his company, Vision-
Tree, has produced over 300
television commercials, a few
documentaries and several audio
commercials. He has also
been, as he puts it, blessed with
decent education, and has a degree
in business management.
Thus, on his ar rival in
Canada, he found a job with
CIBC, working on online communications.
“My corporate work has creativity
in it!” he says.
But along with working to
pay the bills, Mathews was feeding
his hunger for creativity by
organizing small events. Mainly
for people he met through
work, because he knew no one
from the South Asian commu-