Review: The Other End of the Line (James Dodson, 2008)

Sweet little film, if a tad predictable

 I really wasn't expecting much from the film (people who had already seen it said it wasn't that great) so I had low expectations, but as I got into it I thought it was better than average. It's a simple story- a telephone admin caller in India called Priya falls secretly in love with a client of hers, Granger Woodruff, who is based in the US, (both played wonderfully by Shriya Saran and a passionate and enthusiastic Jesse Metcalfe). The catch is that Priya is playing the part of an American girl called Jessica in San Francisco for the role of her telephone job, and Granger does not know she has fallen for him, that she is even Indian or is calling from Mumbai.

The fateful day occurs when Granger is scheduled to be in San Fransico as part of his job, and asks "Jessica" to meet him there to sort out his bank troubles. What then follows is a series of trials and tribulations- should Priya follow her heart and go and see him in the US, or forget about it, shrug it off as a teenage crush and stay at home and be the traditional Indian girl, ready to be engaged in an arrangement she has no feelings for just to please her family? Being her dreamer and inquisitive self, she decides to go, but under the disguise of her real self, "Priya"- whilst Granger is oblivious to the fact that the girl he has just met by accident is not just a random Indian girl on holiday, but the very girl he has been speaking to on the phone. As time goes on and Priya hides her secret identity as "Jessica", they fall for each other, but the secret has to come out one way or another, as does the reality of the situation; the fact that both are committed into an arrangement with their other half's, and Priya also has her family to deal with, who are busy trying to get to the US to find her. Priya must decide what she wants to do with her life, as does Granger, and decide fast before time runs out and Priya's bumbling parents get there and take her away back to India for her engagement.

It's an enjoyable and entertaining film that ticks all the right boxes for being a feel-good rom com, but I thought it was a lot better than most in the genre because it doesn't get too bogged down with typical clichés. It's about two cultures getting together, and whilst this has been done before plenty of times and usually it's always the same kind of thing in films like this, this film moves completely away from that and really focuses on the characters themselves, which is really where it is better than most; both Priya and Granger are very passionate about their jobs and love to make people happy and this is where they ultimately connect, it's not really about where they are both from, but who they are as individuals. When it does get down to cultural differences it only shows what counts- in that it talks about traditional Indian values of valuing your parents and your duties in obeying them rather than doing what you want to do, and as we see it's not always that simple when you want to follow your heart and want to do what makes you happy. I thought the film was good at showing this and I appreciate that when it could have easily gone off into a generic culture clash comedy. The film is not without it's flaws of course, there are some weak moments such as character inconsistencies but they are forgiven, the film is light hearted entertainment at heart which surprisingly has some depth in it, and I feel that you should leave all expectations out the window when you watch it and just enjoy it for what it is. It's wonderfully directed with some great scenery of San Francisco and Mumbai, some great performances from Jesse Metcalfe and Shriya Saran (and even Bollywood legends like Anupam Kher playing Shriya's father), some nice humour and overall it has a strong meaning underneath it's simple romantic exterior which deals with a simple but important question- what would you do for love, no matter how far away you are and where you are from?

I give it 7/10 for a simple little fun film. It is predictable in parts but what the hell, it's a rom-com, and that is what I enjoy in them. Except this one was much better than average. Give it a shot and you'll be pleasantly surprised!