A Malayalee filmmaker from Thiruvananthapura, directs a comedy in English, set in Brisbane, with an Australian theatre actor in the lead, and with a supporting cast of an Afghan, a Chinese and an Indian.
How much more diverse and real can it get!
ZEE5 Global, the largest global OTT platform for Indian content, premiered this exciting original film ‘Howdy’ on October 7 globally.
“I’m thrilled that Howdy is releasing to the global audience on ZEE5. A heart-warming and funny film, many viewers will relate to the silly, goofy and smart characters, especially in the present day climate! It celebrates diversity from many angles, and will inspire you while making you laugh,” said Jay Janardhan, the director of Howdy.
Australian Malayalee director Jay Janardhan directs Shaun King as Win III, Chenaya Aston as Shaina, and Naveen Simone as Leela Ananta, Mike Zarate as Jonnie ‘Chopsticks’ Chow, and Marco Minici as Aziz Khan Dogen.
‘Howdy’ is a comedy written by Australian author Dirk Flinthart that has eight episodes and was completed last year, but was stuck in post-production due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The riches-to-rags story, yeah you read it right, features Winston Wilberforce the Third (Win III) a rich, privileged, white guy whose wife wipes his coffers clean and whose accountant disappears, leaving him penniless.
He is forced to move into what is left, which is his grandma’s house, living on the rent from three weird foreign caretakers who live there.
Besides learning to live with them Win III has another challenge under his charge, his non-conformist daughter who expected to inherit his millions but is now forced to live like a pauper.
ZEE’s digital entertainment platform ZEE5 launched across 190+ countries brings Howdy to the audience on www.ZEE5.com as well as on the ZEE5 App that can be downloaded from Google Play Store or the iOS App Store and is also available on Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV.
Indian-born Australian writer and filmmaker, Janardhan graduated from the Queensland School for Film and Television, winning the Best Director Award for his short film LUCA.
Besides winning several international accolades, including the prestigious Los Angeles Film Awards for the Best First Time Director, he has assisted veteran Indian directors as well.
This ZEE5 original comedy-drama which runs for 40 minutes was officially submitted to the Toronto International Film Festival under the ‘International Shorts’ category.
Watch the trailer here.