Dollar City

Dir: Amudhan R.P.

77 min; Tamil with English subtitles; 2016; Documentary

Produced by Raj Kajendra

Synopsis:

Tirupur aka Dollar City, well known for its thousands of export oriented garment hosiery units

and millions  of migrant workers, symbolizes a development model where the state machinery,

exporters, small and big entrepreneurs, commission agents, trade unionists and workers converge

to prioritize export and to earn dollars by ignoring, marginalizing and eventually breaking the

laws that protect the environment and workers’ rights.

The film provides an inside view of a successful economic system where there is connivance and

consensus between the masters, mediators and the workers, where the ambitions and loyalties

collapse, where the rights become a privilege, where duty becomes an opportunity and where

one’s desperation is another’s prospect.

The fact that there has not been a workers’ strike in Tirupur in the past 20 years, as proudly

expressed by an exporter in the film, can be seen  as classic example of the  Gramscian idea of

manufacture of consent.

Camera: Amudhan R.P.

Editing: Amudhan R.P. & Thangaraj

Music: RaGa

Research: Pushpa Achanta

Subtitles: Meghna Sukumar, Mini Hari & Sara Abraham

Stills: Bharathi Vasan

FreeFall Films

971090448

www.amudhanrp.blogspot.com

www.maduraifilmfest.blogspot.com

amudhan.rp@gmail.com

91 9940642044; 9710904481