NEW DELHI -- On the outskirts of New Delhi, a state-of-the-art telephone call center facility serves as the location for "American Daylight," an in-the-works film that revolves around a culture-clash phenomenon that is reflecting a new urban trend.

Thanks to a large and economical English-speaking work force, telephone call centers have mushroomed in India in recent years, employing about 1.2 million people and transforming into an almost $2 billion industry. So if you are a credit card holder in New York, chances are that when you dial your card company's toll-free support number, your call will be answered by a twentysomething operator in New Delhi who is trained to speak with an American accent while impressing you with some small talk about "Monday Night Football."

This quirky East-West connection has ignited media and political debates in the United States and the United Kingdom about call-center jobs being transferred to India, and here the controversy is the round-the-clock work conditions that are reportedly taking a psychological toll on call-center workers.

But it is this strange example of globalization that has inspired British director Roger Christian to make a feature film on the subject that is slated for release later this year, following shooting schedules in New Delhi and London.

"American Daylight" stars Indian actress Koel Purie as a smart, young call-center operator who ends up getting involved with one of her trans-Atlantic customers, played by British actor Nick Moran ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"). A triangle element comes in the form of her supervisor, played by Vijay Raaz ("Monsoon Wedding").

Produced by New Delhi-based producer Bobby Bedi under his Kaleidoscope Films banner, "American Daylight" is scripted by U.K.-based Indian writer Farouk Dhondy. "When India gained independence on the midnight of Aug. 15, 1947, from the British, the first Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, gave a famous speech about how 'India awakes while the world is asleep.' Well, the fact is that at that time, it was daylight in America," Dhondy explains. "That inspired me to examine how Indian call-center operators work through the night to serve their American customers." Thus the film's title.

Christian finds the premise of "American Daylight" hard to resist. "It's a great setting that re-examines the East-West equation. And there's a love story in between, a sort of take on 'Notting Hill,' you know, two people meeting from totally diverse cultures. The East is warm and emotional, while the West is cold and logical, which is what this film hopes to capture."

It's raining furiously outside, but inside the swanky call-center building that seems transplanted from California's Silicon Valley to the colorful environs around New Delhi, the scene is set up for Purie to take a call from her American customer as she taps away on a computer. She is "Samantha" when she answers in an accent that could pass her off as a McDonald's attendant in Anywhere, USA.

It's a scenario that plays out everyday in offices throughout the country. With American and Western companies outsourcing their back-end information technology, clerical and support services work to India, the overall benefits to the country in terms of employment and foreign exchange inflows are welcomed by most Indians. However, there is concern whether India is being relegated to a glorified back-room operator to the world instead of creating its own answer to the global giants who employ them.

But with a new generation of urban Indians lapping up the latest in entertainment from Hollywood, the enthusiastic call-center workers see their newly acquired American accents as a nifty advantage to get ahead in a globalized world.

"If my film is just viewed by the million-plus call-center workers in India, I think we'll get our money back!" Christian quips.