Outburst on Outsourced

I had never thought that I would be writing a movie review in this blog, but then 2 hours of Outsourced at a local multiplex did it. One can debate if - as Ad Guru and columnist Santosh Desai once put it - the movie was "fake genuine" or a "genuine fake". This movie , made in 2007 and for some unknown reason released in India in late 2008, is in my opinion the former. I am still OK with the NY Times giving this flawed and poorly researched story on India, outsourcing, BPO industry a rather favourable review, but what I find galling is that Indian movie reviewers like Nikhat Kazmi have given it a 3 star rating. The movie has managed to pile on us every possible cliche - the Indian viewer has to suffer along with the protagonist - crowded streets, manic auto-rickshaw drivers, cows and buffaloes blocking the roads, beggars, sadhus, dilapidated Ambassador cars, diarrhoea and thickly accented colleagues. Haven't we been through all these decades ago - a la Heat and Dust, Mind Your Language and god knows countless others. Well I must concede that the BPO part is new.

Well, one can even suffer the cliches if there was some more substance to it. Our protagonist is able to set up a complete fulfillment process call center in heart of rural India in flat 3 weeks time. This should bring cheer to folks who are shelling out big bucks for BPO seats in Gurgaon, Whitefield and Hiranandani. And hey - improving productivity is easy - you need to allow employees to stick photos on their desks and get their Ganesha and Krishna idols to work. Indian girls are even more easy to get - you only need to praise their work and then you could check into the Kamasutra suite with them in a hotel in the Elephanta island. And if you allow slum dwellers to eat the left overs from your plate , they will one day invite you for lunch in their hovel.

This is one of those times when one wishes he had a better command over the English language. I am sure people like K whose blog I am now following could have expressed things much better than me. He could also probably explain while some of the lousiest movies get fairly decent reviews in the press.