The Other End of the Line

Much has been said about the outsourcing of call centers to India, but so far I haven't seen one portrayed in a film in this manner, where Ifelt the portrayal of its inner workings was one of the better moments in his romantic-comedy. As far as I can recall, those who make cold calls to me for surveys, credit sign up and the likes, seem to sound local, or have that distinct regional accent that wasn't disguised, but if things happen per the movie, I won't be surprised that I was duped to believe they're calling from somewhere locally, rather than from abroad.

So welcome to the world of tele-marketers/helpdesks agents/salespersons, where in-house training centres established take their employees through continuous training in order to ensure their accent are masked, their pop-culture knowledge brought up to speed, and they're well-versed in local colloquial terms, so that they seem to be your friend from next door when they talk to you, rather than a feeling of resentment knowing that their neighbours job has gone offshore. It's no easy training, and naturally one that calls for great measure of patience for facing phones being slammed down, or worse to stand up to verbal abuse in many forms.

The Other End of the Line is your standard romantic comedy, which in my opinion got lifted from mediocrity thanks to this aspect of the story that I had a peek into. However, like most east-west fusion films made by Hollywood on Indian culture or aspects of India, it does get romanticized a great deal, and shots of Mumbai looked far too much like it's being lifted from a tourism board promotional video, or some tourist's excitable travel video of an exotic locale that he came back from. Think along the lines of Mistress of Spice, and Bride and Prejudice, and you have an idea how this story by Tracey Jackson had been approached by director James Dodson.

Priya Sethi (Shriya) works in a call centre in Mumbai belonging to CitiOne Bank (no prizes here), and her daily night shift (to be on the same timezone as the USA) gets frowned upon by her conservative family (Anupam Kher from Victory as Dad, and Sushmita Mukherjee from Dostana as Mum), even though she's earning good money to become the chief breadwinner, versus than her insurance salesman dad. She adopts her Jessica David profile for calls she makes to CitiOne's customers, putting on a perfect American accent as she speaks to strangers every night, only to call on a handsome young man (she knows because she Googles) Granger Woodruff (Jesse Metcalfe of John Tucker and Desperate Housewives fame) who had his identity stolen and a whole host of credit card transactions erroneously billed to him.

The both of them strike up a friendship as they speak frequently to clear up and verify his credit card transactions, and with one thing leading to an impulsive another, they set up a date, even though she knowingly lives on the other side of the world in India, while fibbing that she's actually in San Francisco, a city which Granger would be going to for a make or break advertising deal with a hotel chain.

As with any romantic movie, the chemistry between the couple is important for it to be believable that they're falling for each other, and in this aspect both Jesse Metcalfe and Shriya excelled in, looking good on screen as they share plenty of romantic moments the plot had thrown at them. You'd find yourself inevitably rooting for them as they overcome expected challenges, knowing that these issues will probably not be show stoppers, since they conflict with the type of characters they are, strong-willed and stubborn as a mule toward tradition that the modern generation do not buy into, or just don't buy into spending time with someone they don't believe in.

Possessing some amazing powers and ability to hear from a distance, The Other End of the Line is a long-distance infatuation that took on a life of its own, where characters step out of their comfort zones to pursue what their heart tells them. Since it's just a few days after Valentine's, this movie got made and released now for a reason, to have you partake in some lovey-dovey movie with comedy courtesy of a traditional family thrown in for good measure. Need a movie for a romantic night out? Then The Other End of the Line will satisfy that objective. Nothing fancy, but it works.

Granger and his partner Charlie are struggling in the advertising business. They make a sultry and suggestive presentation to Kit Hawksin of Hawksin Hotels, a very demanding businessman. Hawksin is very disappointed that the ad executives do not get his conservative views, but he agrees to give them another chance.

While in bed with his intimidating girlfriend Emory, Granger receives a call from CitiOne Bank saying his identity has been stolen. It is the first of many contacts Granger will have with "Jennifer David", who claims to be from San Francisco. Actually she is Priya Sethi of Mumbai, India.

Priya is engaged to Vikram but doesn't love him. As is often the case in India, it is an arranged marriage and her conservative parents don't care what Priya wants. They are even bothered that she works the night shift (because that is daytime in the United States, where CitiOne wants its customers to think the callers are from) and seem to want her to leave that job. But Priya is very good at her job and enjoys it; she mimics an American accent perfectly. And we see the training the employees get: it's quite detailed and we see how her employer expects everyone to convince people they are American.

Charlie, meanwhile, is also about to get married, and Granger will be his best man. This provides even more distractions.

As part of his effort to win over Hawksin, Granger and Charlie have to go to San Francisco. This gives Priya a chance to meet Granger, and she reluctantly agrees to do so--in order to talk about business. She has relatives in the area and her family believes she is visiting them. Never mind how she gets so much time off work.

But when Granger arrives at the meeting place, he sees several girls who could be "Jennifer". Realizing she has seen granger, and knowing she will never live up to his expectations, she gives up on trying to meet him. But then Granger bumps into her--literally. Granger and Priya immediately make a connection, and to make sure their relationship will work, Priya keeps quiet about her real identity, claiming to be a nurse from India on vacation.

It just so happens Priya is staying at Hawksin Hotel, and Hawksin meets both Granger and Priya. He asks Priya for an evaluation of his hotel and she does a wonderful job, worthy of one of his commercials. For that he rewards her with one of the finest rooms.

Meanwhile, Priya's parents wonder what has happened to her, and they angrily take off for San Francisco to retrieve their wayward daughter.

Over the course of the movie, Granger and Priya run into numerous obstacles. Will they overcome them?

Well, I can say this much. The ending is nothing short of amazing.

Shriya Saran is beautiful, adorable, easy to like and quite talented. She does a very convincing American accent and comes across as very intelligent, though she's just cute enough not to be threatening.

Unlike Sara Foster, who is merely pretty, but we don't want to like her and we're not supposed to want her and Granger to make it.

Jesse Metcalfe also does quite a good job. Especially in one scene toward the end, but I don't want to give away too much. I'll just say he talks about the time he and Charlie went to summer camp.

The clash between cultures provides some opportunities for comedy, and both leads make this work.

Austin Basis is appealing, coming across as an friendly but somewhat incompetent. I especially liked how Hawksin intimidated him and pointed to his proper and quiet Japanese associate of thirty-plus years. Larry Miller, as Hawskin, also does a very good job as a demanding businessman.

The conservative Indian relatives make this movie different. The father Rajeev is determined to keep his family in the past but realizes he is fighting a losing battle. He is appealing in a bumbling way.

There is one hilarious scene at the San Francisco hotel involving words that can have more than one meaning. The movie does get slightly naughty from time to time, and it would be hard to describe it as a family film, but the version I saw likely had some offensive material cut out for broadcast TV and was relatively clean.

It's mostly formula but it's a winning formula.

Movie was very pleasant to watch and I enjoyed the movie and its story line. Some may call it simple because it won't have you on the edge of your seat with drama but it is nice movie that shows that simple love is better than all the wild life that is out there. Someone else commented that her family is a little over done but if you watch Bolywood movies you know that the humor is funny in its own way even when exaggerated. Plot line is nice and I like the ending and the fact that she never bows to sleeping with him before marriage. After all his past ways and choices have not produced real happiness and her class far excels anything he had before and he realizes this. There is enough slut junk out there to watch, it was nice to have a quality story line. I did not think the bachelor party part or the comments on strippers by Granger gave him much class but he later redeems himself by chasing after the good that is in Priya and realizing that all his former girlfriend has to offer (self gratification) is not as valuable as someone you love (Priya). A good movie that I enjoyed.

A pretty generic and formulaic story is fortunately saved by able, charming performances. The chemistry between the leads is good. Priya as a character is well-drawn, she is beautiful, and her internal conflict being trying to free herself from the shackles of the responsibilities of an indian woman within an indian family is interesting. The build-up to the romance and the conflict are quite predicable but are nevertheless fun to watch. There's comedy that's mostly coming from Priya's parents. Overall, The other end of the line adds nothing to the romantic comedy genre apart from being cross-cultural, but it's enjoyable.

Well,I didn't have so much expectations from this movie.But the way it turned up,I kinda liked it pretty much. Its a perfect piece for 'getting-to-know' Indian women.Priya Sethi is well put up a character.Watch her character closely.There so much in it.And Shriya saran played it amazing,a perfect justice to the young innocent character dreaming high.You will definitely like Charlie(Austin Basis) too.Jesse metcalfe has done a fair job.Anupam Kher Also too good. This piece is much portrayed from Indian angle.Alhough sometimes the romance seemed to me induced sort of,but it went well at the spot.Women at call centres must watch it.

Fresh,alive,very much a positive romantic piece.Worth-watching!!