You don’t know where to begin with when you start to write about Ashok Rao. While not promoting his new film‘‘Before the Rains’ opening in theaters nationwide and in Boston on May 16^th,  he is traveling to various places receiving accolades and awards for the production.  Yet the persona and background of Rao is varied and diverse. A successful entrepreneur and an angel investor in numerous high-tech start-ups, Rao was CEO of Prime Wave Communications, a broadband wireless access technology subsidiary of L3 from 2000 to 2003. Previously, he was the founder and chief executive officer of Trex Communications ("TrexCom"), a Thermo Electron satellite communications business, which reached annual revenues of $60 million in the second year. He was instrumental in the sale of TrexCom to L3 in 2000. He is also presently the President of TiE Houston. Rao holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, a master's degree in systems engineering from Marquette University, and a diploma in Financial Management from the London School of Economics. Mr. Rao is also a trustee of numerous charitable organizations.

When I spoke to him on phone, Rao is recovering from a bout of flu, but is nevertheless upbeat about the release of his film from his residence at Houston. Settled in Houston after moving from Seattle, Rao said his tryst into films began when he decided to retire after being in the world of business for years. However he was approached by a friend who asked him to finance his film venture. Says Rao, “the film was called ‘The Bollywood Bride” and it soon ran into trouble, and I ended up trying to fix up a lot of things to bring it to fruition. In the process, I learnt a bit about the world of films and decided to go into film production and founded Excalibur Pictures”. My next venture was another great film called ‘The Whisperers” The film is a two man psychological thriller/drama played out against the backdrop of one man’s life (Sunny Singh).  

So how did it feel to work with such greats as Santosh Sivan, Rahul Roy and Nandita Das for this latest production? “To work with Santosh is a great honor and I have known Rahul previously and he is a good friend so it was just a really good experience. The actual shooting took place in 40 days in Kerala. The crew in India is a delight, very professional and accommodating. It is the post production set up in a film which takes time and is a mark of a director as well as all those involved in its various parts like editing, music etc. Overall, I think audience will love the David Lean style of feel that the movie projects. The movie has got tremendous response till now ".

How do films with an Indian theme or stars do in the US ? Says Rao, the magic formula is always either a big name celebrity star and a great director of course. Linus Roache who plays the British actor is well known in UK but here he attained fame because he is now playing in the series ‘Law and Order’. We find distribution to be a challenge but finally there is always a channel open for these independent film makers too",he concludes.

Finally I ask him about his role as President of TiE Houston, “ We are in revival mode but hold one distinction. We are  probably the only chapter that has a diverse group of members: from real estate, radio and TV, financial services and every other kind of eclectic entrepreneurs, very different from Boston and Silicon Valley.”  

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