Bridging cultures through movies--Interview

Ultimate Bollywood » Bollywood Features » 2008
Interview: Ashok Amritraj

Our very own Raj Rangarajan speaks with the producer of the hip and timely flick The Other End of the Line.

RR: How has your foray from tennis to film making been?
AA: I continue to enjoy playing tennis but now I have fun playing Saturday evenings in my home as a sport with friends and other film industry colleagues.


RR: What triggered the switch from tennis to movies?
AA: In 1975 when I was playing in California the movie bug hit me and in 1981-82, I decided to switch. I had grown up with English movies and Hollywood films. Initially, it was a tough in the movie business but slowly things have worked out.


RR: You have made so many films now. In what way was The Line significant for you?
AA: We have had action movies, comedies, limited budget movies, but what I wanted was a cross-cultural film where we could sort of create a bridge between Asia and the West, and this film has done that. It is multi-cultural and humorous and with movies being a major medium we can create a new awareness for India. When Tracey Jackson came up with the idea 4-5 years ago, we discussed the idea with MGM and soon it was reality.


RR: Now that you have dealt with Indian and foreign actors regularly is there a way to compare their performances from an acting standpoint? Are their work ethics different?
AA: Both film industries – Indian cinema (I wouldn't like to call it Bollywood) and Hollywood – have their plus points: we cannot compare their work ethics, since its like comparing apples and oranges. Both industries are good and run on parallel tracks. From an audience standpoint to writing of scripts to production to even setting up shots, everything is executed differently.


RR: With cross-national trends now in movie making and with some Indian actors being cast in Hollywood or in TV serials, sitcoms and reality shows, from a business standpoint, is a merger of Hollywood and Bollywood a good thing for the film industry?
AA: Within five years I do foresee an investment merger between Hollywood and Indian cinema and it is bound to improve further. There is so much talent on both sides that it will be a natural fit though each set of people has different norms, work ethics and formalities to follow. I hope this will launch a sound platform for Indian talent as well.

RR: What's next on the horizon for you in a cinematic sense?
AA: Street fighters based on a popular video game is being released in February 2009; Dead of Night based on a comic book and a remake of Ten [where Bo Derek debuted in 1979] is on the cards. Commenting on the experience of filming in Mumbai, Director James Dodson says, "I've filmed in Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, but nothing prepared me for the hustle and bustle of Mumbai... imagine 22 million people all alive and celebrating life at their loudest…now imagine trying to get them all to stay quiet for 2 minutes so we can shoot an intimate scene." Amritraj adds, "We couldn't have done this film anywhere else... I was so touched at how India opened up her heart to us... and it shows on the screen."

Catch The Other End of the Line, in theaters now.

Raj S. Rangarajan is a New York-based trend writer, reports on the art market, reviews movies, books and plays and has written for publications in the U.S., Canada, Australia and India. He can be reached at raj.rangarajan@gmail.com.

The Other End of the Line: Movie Review

Ultimate Bollywood » Movie Reviews » 2008

The Other End of the Line
Director: James Dodson
Starring: Shriya Saran, Jesse Metcalfe, Anupam Kher, Tara Sharma
Released: October 31, 2008

by Raj S. Rangarajan

Whoever would have thought the ubiquitous call center which we now take for granted would be the theme for a movie? And, what better places to situate the story than India and America? With improved telephone services globally, it was perhaps obvious that cost-conscious multinational companies would make overhead costs and relatively cheap labor productive resources to tap.

And, it was left to film producer and former tennis star Ashok Amritraj to use the call center concept to make a movie. Ashok credits screenwriter Tracey Jackson (Guru) for the idea, and his company Hyde Park Entertainment and India's Reliance ADA Group ran with it. The film is co-produced by Ashok Amritraj and Patrick Aiello and is the first in a 5-year co-production deal between Amritraj's U.S.- based Hyde Park Entertainment and Reliance ADA Group.

Ashok's foray from tennis to movies has an advantage. The set on which he plays here is pleasantly funny and his interesting cast of characters do justice to a novel idea made famous just a few years ago: outsourcing, the call center and the BPO. For this comedy – The Other End of the Line Ashok Amritraj has assembled Shriya Saran (who played opposite Rajnikanth in Sivaji) and is paired with American Jesse Metcalfe, known for his role in "Desperate Housewives," a sitcom on ABC's Sunday evening TV lineup.

Ashok says, the film comes alive thanks to superb writing and is happy that one could draw on the redoubtable talent of actors such as Anupam Kher (Bend it Like Beckham), Larry Miller (Boston Legal, Pretty Woman) who plays Kit Hawksin, a hotel magnate and Granger Woodruff, an ad executive who wants to land Hawksin as a client.

Call center employee Priya Sethi (Saran) assumes the name – Jennifer David – to speak like an American, based in San Francisco, and to resolve queries from customers of Citi One Bank card. While speaking to Granger Woodruff (Jesse Metcalfe) over several calls on his "fraudulent" card charges, Priya starts fantasizing about meeting him in San Francisco, and based on a casual suggestion by Granger to meet her, Priya takes off for America, on a whim as it were. Thanks to an instant connection (pun intended), Priya is unable to suppress her desire to agree to meet Granger in his home town. Shot in Mumbai and San Francisco, the film will warm the cockles of Mumbaikars' and San Franciscans' hearts.

Granger's girl friend, Emory Banks (played by Sara Foster – The Big Bounce) appears in what one could term mandatory scenes to keep the story going. At times, the film travels fast like a sitcom with anticipatory twists. Priya's confidante, Zia (Tara Sharma –in Khosla ka Ghosla) plays a level-headed counselor.

While Priya (read also, Jennifer) is on cloud nine, Priya's father, Rajeev (Anupam Kher) has been attempting to arrange a marriage with Vikram who is portrayed as dull compared to the sprightly Priya. Granger is taken up with this tourist from India and struggles with the thought of giving up his girl friend Emory. He continues to believe that the Citi One Bank Card person is Jennifer David and it never crosses his mind that Jennifer could be Priya. They spend quality time taking in the sights and sounds of S.F. and spicy curry.

When confronted, Priya's excuse to visit America, according to her parents, was to meet her forward-looking 80-year-old aunt, who advises her that life is too short to live while trying to make others happy. While Priya mulls the thought of going steady with Granger, her parents land up in America in search of their daughter who had flown the coop. And, why were they concerned? Priya's marriage of course.

Just as Priya realizes that she is falling in love with Granger she decides to visit him in the hotel. As one would expect even if you are an ardent movie buff, a switch is called for. Priya sees Emory in his room, and throws a fit. Around the same time, Priya's ploy as Jennifer also falls apart and now its Granger's turn to be miffed: why couldn't Priya be honest up front?

At his friend Charlie's wedding (played by Austin Basis – American Zombie), when he is almost down and out – emotionally – it suddenly dawns on Granger that he is actually in love with Priya and not with the efficient, but sometimes cold Emory. Thus the sudden flight to Mumbai to meet his love interest (wonder how he managed a visa to India just like that!). It is a feel-good movie that lasts 106 minutes where "everyone lives happily ever after."

We also see the customary intrigue and word interplay with opulent homes to signify well-to-do, successful Indians. Perhaps because of the common element of Anupam Kher being in this movie, one is reminded of Gurinder Chadha's Bride & Prejudice, starring Aishwarya Rai (2004). In this film Kher is almost lifeless though on one occasion he takes a whack at Jesse when he learns that Priya and Granger met without his knowledge.