Outsourced (film)

Outsourced
Promotional poster for Outsourced
Directed by	John Jeffcoat
Produced by	Tom Gorai Gwen Bialic (co-producer) David Skinner (executive producer) George Wing (executive producer)
Written by	George Wing John Jeffcoat
Starring	Josh Hamilton Ayesha Dharker Asif Basra Arjun Mathur Siddarth Jadhav
Music by	BC Smith
Cinematography	Teodoro Maniaci
Editing by	Brian Berdan
Distributed by	ShadowCatcher Entertainment
Release date(s)	September 12, 2006
Running time	103 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$703,042 (worldwide)[1]

Outsourced is a romantic comedy film, directed by John Jeffcoat, released in 2006.

Plot

When Todd Anderson's (Josh Hamilton) job and entire department are outsourced, he reluctantly travels to India to train his replacement. Arriving in India, he experiences culture shock: he is confused by everything from catching a train to hiring a taxi.

Through his team of quirky Indian call center workers—including his friendly and motivated replacement, Puro (Asif Basra), and the charming, outspoken Asha (Ayesha Dharker)—Todd soon realizes that he too has a lot to learn, not only about India and America but also about himself. One day he calls his ex-girlfriend in the US only to find that she is with another man. Todd is depressed, but before long he discovers that being outsourced may be the best thing that ever happened to him.

Todd's objective is to reduce the time needed to complete the average call from 12 minutes to six. If his team doesn't achieve this, his boss won't let him go home. Another call center administrator tells him it's hopeless. The other administrator suggests that, instead of fighting, Todd should relax and go with the flow; his life in the process will become easy.

The next day Todd gets caught in Holi, a celebration of colors. He initially tries to run away from the people throwing colored powders and water balloons at him, but he finally joins in the celebration and has fun. He then submerges himself in the village lake and then emerges, emphasizing his acceptance of the culture. He also starts to give away leftover food to the poor people working next to the place where he is staying.

One night, Todd congratulates his call center on their progress. He asks them what would make working in the call center a more positive experience. Workers ask to bring pictures and figurines from home, and to be allowed to dress as they please. Workers also ask to get the products they're selling. Todd makes a deal that the worker with the best Minutes Per Incident (MPI) will get to pick the product of his choice from the treasure box. He has the manufacturer send 100 products, much to his boss's disapproval. However, when the boss calls to complain, Todd explains that there are a billion potential buyers in India who would love to buy the products. The boss responds by shipping the products overnight.

The products are accidentally sent to another town and street with the same name. Todd and Asha go to retrieve the packages, by car and ferry. Todd asks the taxi statue of the goddess of destruction (Kali) to destroy something while they wait. The ferry coincidentally burns up. Todd and Asha have to share a hotel room called the Kama Sutra Suite. They are initially nervous, with Asha becoming furious thinking what would happen if anyone finds out that she is alone in a hotel room with a man who is not her husband. But later, they end up kissing and making love.

When they return to work, Asha explains that she has been engaged since age four and asks him to maintain professional distance with her. Todd feels let down. Asha explains her friend's euphemism of a "holiday in Goa". She tells him she will learn to love her future husband like her mother and father did with each other. To this Todd replies that he does not understand how the strong-willed Asha would settle for an arranged marriage. Asha responds that she doesn't understand the US's 50% divorce rate either. Asha confesses to Todd that all her life she had to struggle for everything, from education to work, and always listen to her parents complain "You can't go to college" or "You can't work in a call center". She was elated when Todd said "Asha can do anything" while explaining to Puro why he wishes to promote Asha to assistant manager.

After this, Todd's boss, David, suddenly arrives. When he comes to check on the progress, which was previously just over six minutes per call, they find the call center flooded due to a neighboring farm's irrigation system. Todd has the entire staff move to the roof. The aghast David thinks it is impossible but the enlightened Todd replies it may be impossible in the US, but not in India. They quickly achieve good numbers. Before Todd goes off to celebrate at the local bar, he is told by David that the company will be outsourcing to China for a much cheaper price. All the employees have lost their jobs and he expects Todd to, once again, travel to China and train his replacement.

The employees don't complain because they will get severance pay, and are expecting jobs in other call centres in India. Puro, however, is disappointed because he won't get enough money to marry the woman of his dreams. Todd, remembering the story of the software programmer who outsourced his own job; outsources his lucrative job at the Chinese call center to Puro, who happily marries with enough money and a great future. Todd returns to Seattle, where he starts adopting some Indian traditions. In the closing scene, Todd's phone rings with Asha's special ringtone and he smiles as he reaches for it.

Production

Principal photography took place in Mumbai from 5 February to 13 March 2006, followed by three days in Seattle from 7-9 April 2006. The film is based on an original screenplay by George Wing and writing partner, John Jeffcoat.

Awards

• Bend Film Festival Audience Award, Best Picture 2007
• Bollywood and Beyond Film Festival Audience Award 2007
• Cinequest Film Festival Audience Award, Best Feature Film 2007
• Dubai International Film Festival Official Selection 2006
• Goa International Film Festival Official Selection 2006
• Hardacre Film Festival Audience Award, Best Picture 2007
• Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles Audience Award 2007
• Mumbai International Film Festival Official Selection 2007
• Palm Springs Film Festival Best of the Fest 2007
• Palm Springs Film Festival John Schlesinger Award 2007
• Red Bank International Film Festival Official Selection 2007
• Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film 2007
• South Asian Film Festival Official Selection 2007
• South Asian Indiam Film Festival Official Selection 2007
• Toronto Film Festival Official Selection 2006
• Vancouver International Film Festival Official Selection 2007

Television spinoff

Main article: Outsourced (TV series)

In October 2007, Variety reported that Ken Kwapis, who worked on the U.S. adaptation of The Office, had been tapped by NBC to create a television pilot for a potential spinoff of Outsourced.^[2]

On May 16, 2010, NBC announced that the television adaptation would be a part of the network's fall 2010 lineup.^[3] Outsourced premiered on September 23, 2010^[4] and ran for one season.

References

1. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=outsourced.htm
2. ^ Adalian, Josef (October 7, 2007). "'Outsourced' works at NBC". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973592.html?categoryId=1300&cs=1. Retrieved May 17, 2010. 
3. ^ Gorman, Bill (May 16, 2010). "NBC Unveils 2010-11 Primetime Schedule". TVbytheNumbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/05/16/nbc-unveils-2010-11-primetime-schedule/51543. Retrieved May 17, 2010. 
4. ^ Gorman, Bill (July 15, 2010). "NBC Announces Series Premiere Dates For Fall 2010 Schedule". TVbythenumbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/07/15/nbc-announces-series-premiere-dates-for-fall-2010-schedule/57220. Retrieved 2010-07-15. 

External links

• Official Website
• Outsourced (film) at the Internet Movie Database
• Outsourced at AllRovi