Todd Anderson works in a consumer call centre in Seattle. When the company decides to outsource the work to India, Todd is sent there to help set it up. He has a mandate to get the Indian call centre staff to sound 'more American" and increase productivity. Not an easy task in a chaotic country like India.
Outsourced is a charming comedy that is extremely topical. Many of us have had the experience of speaking with people who are not only thousands of miles away but from culturally different worlds. 'Outsourced" puts a face to these voices and situations, making for some good comedic moments.
Respected New York stage actor Josh Hamilton is so engaging as Todd. He wonderfully underplays his reaction to all the madness going on around him. His performance is offset well against respected Indian actress Ayesha Dharker, who encourages the 'fish out of water’ Todd to embrace life in India as it is.
Having been to Indian quite a few times myself, I found the characterisations pretty spot on. The people have a beautiful way of viewing the world, which is uniquely Indian.
Director and co-writer John Jeffcoat was inspired to make Outsourced after spending time in Southeast Asia. Some of the settings and situations were a little Americanised, but on the whole Jeffcoat effectively portrays the cultural gap between India and the west.
This is a small budget production that is not really striving for anything new but it is colourful sweet and harmless - 3 stars.
