Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Free Preview Clip
The new feature film For Here or To Go depicts the experiences of immigrants working in the US today, especially H1-B visa holders who are often treated like conscripts. We talk with director Rucha Humnabadkar and writer-producer Rishi S. Bhilawadikar about the movie and Trump’s immigration moves.This entertaining film will educate and inform viewers about highly skilled guest workers and the restrictions of H1-B visas, and is even more impressive that Rucha is directing for the first time, and this is Rishi’s first screenplay. The layered story, with a few surprises, centers on Vivek Pandit, a software engineer from India who’s working in Silicon Valley.
Pandit’s visa gives his sponsoring employer leverage, and Pandit is unable to take an offer from a startup that stirs his passions. The storyline brings in other immigrant workers, speed dating, a controlling mother who FaceTimes her son constantly, and a Bollywood surprise along the way.
In our conversation, we talk about the issues raised by the movie. Rucha is a recent US citizen, while Rishi holds an H1-B visa; because he’s from India, he must wait years for a green card, while a comparable person from South Africa, for example, can get a green card within a year. They offer insights on the impact of Trump’s travel ban, immigrant fears heightened by the recent Kansas bar shooting, where 2 Indian men were shot and one killed, by an American who thought they were Iranians.