Yesterday (11/03/2009) night as I was surfing channels, I stumbled upon a movie "Outsourced" which was playing on star movies.
My Parents and sis had came on a long weekend due to “holi"day. My Sis was busy surfing the net but Me and my mom were interested in the film. As it deals with outsourcing and both of us me (IT firm) and my sister (BPO) work in the outsourced world, my Ma was also very keen on watching this movie.
The story begins with Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) who works as a manager in a call-center based in the U.S. Like most businesses in the U.S., due to cost cutting measures the company decides to outsource his process to an Indian firm. All the employees save Todd are fired by the company’s slimy boss Dave (Matt Smith), who has something special lined, up for Todd.
He is supposed to travel to India & train his replacement, which he reluctantly does else he won’t get any monetary benefits from the company. So he arrives and is almost immediately thrown into a classic fish-out-of-water scenario. He gets mobbed by taxi drivers at the airport, then accidentally travels in a rickshaw for the first time, catches a running train, has a ‘gola’ (ice-candy) from the streets & falls sick & gets called “Mr. Toad” rather than Todd by all the people he meets. His aim however is to train Purohit N. Virajnarianan (Asif Basra) & bring down the new call center’s MPI (Minutes Per Incident) rate down to less than six minutes from an abysmal twelve minutes so he can return to the U.S. as soon as possible. However a chance meeting with another foreigner, Bob (Larry Pine) gives him new insight about how to handle things & once he slowly starts accepting the local culture around him, things start to take a turn for the better for him & even romance beckons in the form of his lovely co-worker Asha (Ayesha Dharker).
Life’s a relentless question mark for products salesman Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) when he is sent to India to train his replacement. And giving the desi, chatpata reply is none other than the intelligent and focused Asha (Ayesha Dharker) who tells the world that India rocks because this is where kids do not walk out of homes when in their teens, we don’t hate our jobs and we don’t hate our bosses. But the real Indianism, that’s incidentally nothing less than desi enlightenment for Mr. Todd is our very own bura-na-mano holi hai festival. So, does he mind the color riot? Not all all. After all, hitting gulal ain’t no different than a baseball or a rugby game. Truly incredible...
And truly incredible is the power of Incredible India. How? Well, desi clichés no longer seem to be clichés. Todd doesn’t mind being called "Toad" by the humble desi, dancing to Bollywood tunes becomes the ultimate experience for him, the first dip in the nearby pond is nothing less than nirvana, the goddess of destruction is there for him to "destruct in order to start a new cycle of life"...
The movie isn’t overtly sweet nor is it down-right gritty & too realistic; it has just the right balance which makes it acceptable & enjoyable in a laidback manner. The movie takes it own time to set things up & the comic situations resulting from adjusting to alien conditions for Todd aren’t done in an over the top so they seem far more realistic. Though no rickshaw travels up to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway terminus in Mumbai. The call-center working conditions though not perfect are far better showcased than the "Hello" (2008).
Cultural differences are subtly highlighted in Todd’s interactions with various people he meets & the best part is that there is no great spiritual learning to be had for him, just a new experience that’s all. Watching Asha & Todd talk to one another exchanging their accents is a scene sure to bring a smile to your face. The romantic track of the movie seems a little tacked on even though both Ayesha Dharkar & Josh Hamilton exhibit ample on-screen chemistry, their story doesn’t really lead anywhere, rather is kind of demeaning by trying imply that only arranged marriages take place in India & women once married are like salves for the rest of their lives so they try & have all the “fun” before they get married off.
Josh Hamilton is very good as Todd & his transformation from the hapless outsider to a person confident with his surroundings is carried off with great ease. His clueless demeanor & dead-pan expressions at times provide for a few good laughs. Ayesha Dharkar is adequate but really shines in a scene late in the movie when she reveals a secret to Todd. Asif Basra, who plays Purohit, has perhaps the most clichéd character of the lot as the “typical Indian” but plays it with enough earnestness for it to be forgivable as a Hollywood exercise in excess.
Outsourced is a funny, little movie which walks a tried & tested path differently without overdoing its sweetness & will definitely provide more than a few smiles if nothing else.My Say: Do watch this light hearted comedy movie on DVD or watch out for TV schedules for reruns of this movie.