The Other End of the Line

February 12, 2009 0 By Fans
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Still of Jesse Metcalfe, Larry Miller and Shriya Saran in The Other End of the LineStill of Shriya Saran in The Other End of the LineThe Other End of the LineStill of Jesse Metcalfe and Shriya Saran in The Other End of the LineStill of Anupam Kher in The Other End of the LineStill of Jesse Metcalfe and Shriya Saran in The Other End of the Line

Plot

An employee at an Indian call-center travels to San Francisco to be with a guy she falls for over the phone.

Release Year: 2008

Rating: 5.9/10 (2,027 voted)

Critic's Score: 40/100

Director:
James Dodson

Stars: Jesse Metcalfe, Sara Foster, Anupam Kher

Storyline
Struggling to convince his new hotelier client, Kit Hawksin, Granger Woodruff is told by one Jennifer David that his identity has been compromised, and his credit card is being misused. While tracing transactions, both become friendly and agree to meet in San Francisco at the Hawksin Hotel. She does not show up, and Woodruff befriends an East Indian woman, Priya Sethi, who has come to attend a relative's marriage. Woodruff will get a rude awakening when he finds out that Priya is actually Jennifer – who is the fiancé of wealthy Mumbai-based Vikram Bhatia – and has traveled there without informing her family. He will also incur her dad's (Rajeev) wrath, who has been compelled to travel there, along with his wife, Manju, to first locate, and then escort Priya back home to get her married to Vikram.

Cast:

Jesse Metcalfe

Granger Woodruff


Shriya Saran

Priya R. Sethi


Larry Miller

Kit Hawksin


Michael Chen

Mike


Nouva Monika Wahlgren

Ula

(as Nauva Green)


Sara Foster

Emory Banks


Harry Key

New York Waiter


Austin Basis

Charlie Hendricks


Tara Sharma

Zia


Sushmita Mukherjee

Manju R. Sethi


Jai Thade

Govinda R. Sethi


Kiran Juneja

Aunt Pimmi


Suhita Thatte

Priya's Aunt #2


Anupam Kher

Rajeev Sethi


Avantika Akerkar

Miss Prasad

Taglines:
Two countries. Two cultures. One chance at love.



Details

Official Website:
MGM [United States] |

Release Date: 12 February 2009

Filming Locations: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Opening Weekend: $59,078
(USA)
(2 November 2008)
(91 Screens)

Gross: $115,504
(USA)
(7 December 2008)



Technical Specs

Runtime:

USA:

Goofs:

Factual errors:
It is shown in the movie that Priya suddenly decides to take off for USA and the very next day she's in the US. The same happens with Granger, as he suddenly walks out of his friend's wedding and takes off for India. Both scenarios are impossible as it takes quiet a long time (weeks) for Indians to get a US tourist visa approved after a long process and for American visitors to get an Indian Visa approved. None of the two countries have got "visa-on-arrival" or "visa free entry" treaty for citizens of their counterpart country.

Quotes:

Granger Woodruff:
Nothing should ever hold a man back from his future.



User Review

A Nutshell Review: The Other End of the Line

Rating: 7/10


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.