Outsourced

This modern-day West meets East romantic comedy based on IT outsourcing is charming as it appeals to the saying ‘love not only conquers boundaries but even globalisation’.

A US novelty customer care trainer Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton), known for his dislikes of outsourcing, is sent to India to train his replacement and a new batch of recruits. Anderson is assaulted by the cultural difference in the chaotic Mumbai even as he tries to make ‘the Indians’ talks fast like the Americans, so that he could return home straight away.

However, when he met his team of unusual yet pleasant Indian workers, including his replacement, the charming Asha (Ayesha Dharker), Todd realises that he too has a lot to learn – not only about Indians but about himself. The film is a crowd pleaser with a memo attached. Outsourced touched the sensitive issue of outsourcing in the face of globalisation with a soft focal point. The causes and effects of outsourcing to both the US and India is presented in a loveable perspective.

Although the film starts off at a snail’s pace with countless false comedy, the story warms up a great deal when Todd and Asha go on a brief business trip together. Sometimes the film is unsure of its path, balancing between exploitation of the global employee and the commemoration of cultural diversity.

But unlike the usual pardesi-desi kind of love story in which extremes of the two are always there Outsourced approach is to play everything small and keep the human aspect at the foremost. A charming film about preconceptions, clash of traditions and love, Outsourced gives us an immaculate view of romance inside the call centres.
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English (U)
Cast: Asif Basra, Ayesha Dharker, Josh Hamilton
Director: John Jeffcoat