Jul 15, 2009
The Hollywood/Bollywood Connection, continued
Screenwriter Tracey Jackson has no obvious connection to India, though in her official online bio, it simply explains, “She loves India. People said, ‘don’t write about India,
Nov 02, 2008
Variety Film Review: The Other End of the Line
The title makes it sound like a Western, but “The Other End of the Line” is more of an Eastern-Western, offering a pretty savvy take on the romantic possibilities of subcontinental telemarketing. .. Some of scripter Tracey Jackson’s best material is in the call-center scenes, where often beleaguered, well-mannered Indians are abused daily over the phone. (“Can I get out of New Jersey?” one worker pleads. “Everyone’s swearing at me.” No, her supervisor says: “Everyone starts in New Jersey.”)
Oct 31, 2008
American Films Would Make Fun of India
Five years ago scriptwriter Tracey Jackson went to Hollywood with a clipping from The New York Times, perhaps the first article to report on the call centres in India. The article talked about young Indians working in Bangalore, Gurgaon and Mumbai and pretending to be Americans for credit card company clients in the US.
“They would put on accents and say “Hello my name is Nancy,” Jackson recalls sitting in a cafe in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. “And I thought this would be such a great idea for a transglobal love story.”
May 27, 2008
The Hollywood Reporter Film Review: The Other End of the Line
Bottom Line: A charming old-fashioned romantic comedy transposed to today’s global dating world. In the grand tradition of screwball comedies where the “players” try to get together but are constantly kept apart by their own subterfuges, the romantic arc is aptly exasperating as they struggle to make their connection. Best of all, we root for these two to get together. Screenwriter Tracey Jackson has perceptively created two characters who seem ideally suited to each other. Our match-making instincts are further stoked by the charismatic and engaging lead performances of Jesse Metcalfe and Shriya.
Nov 05, 2004
Tracey in India Today
Call centers put India on the world map. Now they have drawn Hollywood’s attention. Tracey Jackson, a long time Indophile, is scripting a movie on the phenomena.
Jan 31, 2003
The Los Angeles Times Film Review: The Guru
Calibrated to please, “The Guru” is a down-market but enjoyable goof. It’s also not as dumb as it looks. The filmmakers aren’t interested in subverting clichés, just tweaking them. Central to the movie’s charm is how it knowingly taps into two of our more cherished mythologies — inevitable true love and immigrant triumphalism — but always at an oblique angle.
Jan 31, 2003
Slipping Insights In with Laughs
While there has been no recent shortage of well-received art- house films out of India (last year’s “Monsoon Wedding” comes to mind), the big, bawdy mainstream film meant to properly enlighten moviegoers at large about Bollywood and all things Indian has proved elusive until now. Enter “The Guru,” a major-studio (Universal) flick that puts an Indian spin on a classic American tale of innocence lost and dollars gained.
Jan 29, 2003
Entertainment Weekly Film Review: The Guru
Bright dialogue and finely embroidered performances adorn The Guru like festive beading on a pair of made-in-India bedroom slippers — unexpected and inordinately cheering in the drab dead of winter. This very funny studio picture plays like an indie lark, a blending of venerable (and currently trendy) Bollywood musical conventions, Hollywood romantic-comedy formula, satiric ”Guffman”-esque riffs, and droll parody at the expense of the enduring American porn-flick industry.
Jan 28, 2003
The Village Voice Film Review: The Guru
Bolly-go-lightly hybrid The Guru manages to have its dosa and eat it, too—allowing that culture is a con game, while seeking pleasure in the deception… Authenticity is gleefully moot here: An agent calls Ramu “Indian, or—excuse me, Native American,” while Marisa Tomei’s New Age burnout delivers a line of cell-phone patter as precise and vacuous as a DeLillo outtake: “I want the suede not the leather. I want every color.” The Guru shows similar appetite.
Oct 20, 2002
Box Office Magazine Film Review: The Guru
From its fish-out-of-water scenario and rags-to-riches trajectory to its predictable twists and convoluted conclusion, “The Guru” is every bit as formulaic as Working Title’s earlier comic fodder. Nevertheless, it’s easy to forgive this colorful fable’s foibles, principally because it never takes itself too seriously. There’s much to relish here, including a raft of deft supporting performances. A brisk narrative is embellished with some exuberant and imaginatively choreographed musical numbers, while Tracey Jackson’s piquant screenplay balances bawdy comedy with a perceptive critique of cultural flirtation. Entertaining, if not exactly enlightening.
May 31, 2002
Kitsch With a Niche: Bollywood Chic Finds a Home
IT was a swell crowd last Tuesday at a dinner party in the Fifth Avenue apartment of Tracey Jackson, a screenwriter, and Glenn Horowitz, a rare-book dealer. The hosts had lured their guests — including the journalist Carl Bernstein; Shashi Tharoor, a United Nations official and writer; and Amy Gross, the editor in chief of O, the Oprah Magazine — with the prospect of meeting India’s hottest new import. Not the requisite guru or swami, fixtures at society gatherings since Edith Wharton’s day, but Aamir Khan, a superstar from Bombay’s over-the-top film industry, Bollywood.
