Here comes the Rain
Mar 26 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal
The pair, who run the business as a two-man band with help from freelancers as and when required, also returned home with additional inspiration drawn from real-life India.
Mr Constable said: “Everywhere you go, there are stories. We came back with a stack of papers and magazines full of stories.
“It was around Valentine’s Day and fundamental Hindus were saying it was Westernised and not Indian. These women were sending pink knickers to these religious leaders to say we’re not going to give up Valentine’s Day!”
After Mumbai, they travelled to Bangalore, India’s hi-tech centre.
“We decided to take the train from Mumbai to Bangalore, rather than fly. Even though the journey was 25 hours, it was worth it as it’s a great way to meet people,” said Mr Constable.
“We met a research scientist working on the Indian space programme and even got to meet Guru Gee, a Hindu Swami, who was also travelling to Bangalore.
“Thanks to the meetings that UKTI helped us set up, we’re very close to finalising a deal with a Bangalore-based production company to make a documentary about aspects of Indian culture, and we have a potential second deal in the pipeline with another company.”
Mr Constable and Mr Larson Sidhu were friends as teenagers in the North East during the 1980s, until Mr Constable moved away. When he returned to the region, they met up again and decided to set up Blue Rain at the start of 2007.
“He’d been making a film but he had put it to one side,” said Mr Constable.
“We set up the company originally as a production company to produce the film. We realised it had some legs to stand up on its own. We got Arts Council funding and Business Link supported us with match funding for our website.”
Blue Rain has been involved with UKTI for some time and strongly recommends that other small businesses looking at the export route get in touch with the Government body.
UKTI international trade adviser Geoff Young, who organised and led the regional visit to India, said: “India is a huge and diverse market, which exporters can sometimes find difficult to navigate. An OMIS [Overseas Market Introduction Service] report can help a company identify where the best opportunities are so resources can be targeted more effectively.”
Mr Constable added: “The support we received from UKTI was really good. Although we were free to travel and make our own arrangements during our time in India, we were able to call on Geoff and the staff at UKTI’s offices all over India for any help and advice we needed.
“The information we received as part of the OMIS report was invaluable, and has given us lots of potential contacts we can follow up in the future.”
