Outsourced
Cast : Josh Hamilton, Ayesha Dharker
Direction : John Jeffcoat
Rating : *
Leave your brain with the usher if you decide to sample this wearisome culture-clash comedy. The clichés pile up thick and fast in debutant director Jeffcoat’s desi misadventure. Based on his experiences while travelling in India, the outcome is a waste of the viewer’s time, money and tolerance.
For starters, it is difficult to care about any of the sketchy characters. An American call centre manager (Hamilton) reluctantly agrees to come to a town on the outskirts of Mumbai after his entire department is outsourced here. His woes--- and ours too for that matter--- have only just begun.
The clueless yuppie balks at the toilet facilities, spicy food and at a cow which keeps wandering into the ramshackle office. Plus, the staff keeps calling him ‘Mr. Toad’ because they can’t pronounce ‘Todd’.
Next: by one of those convenient script contrivances the American takes a shine to a bright employee (Dharker). The lovey-dovey pair even spends a night together in the suite of the Kama Sutra hotel! How subtle is that?
The direction is bogged down by a lack of taste, style and imagination. The manipulative background music score is irritating. As for the performances, they range from the bad to the indifferent to the very bad.
{{/usCountry}}The direction is bogged down by a lack of taste, style and imagination. The manipulative background music score is irritating. As for the performances, they range from the bad to the indifferent to the very bad.
{{/usCountry}}From the chaotic opening sequence to its embarrassingly naïve end, Outsourced just omits one cliché – the snake charmer. Worth a skip.