Every time The Office is remade into a regional adaptation, fans of the original smack their head in despair. Those who saw the trailer of The Office (India), too, wept for the soul of their favourite mockumentary and cringe-comedy sitcom.
But remakes are bound to have detractors. When The Office (UK) was adapted for the US, fans in Britain wrote to the BBC saying, “The original cannot be re-made” and “It is just not the same”. The British found Ricky Gervais’s creation more unique, fresh, and awkwardly hilarious.
Despite this, The Office (US) ran for nine seasons; the British original managed only two. The two are still incomparable thanks to their unique cultural oddities of language, setting and humour.
But, it is impossible not to compare the The Office (India) with the American one. It is similar to how, when you copy an essay from a friend for an assignment, the teacher who reads both essays will prefer the friend’s.
The first season feels like a re-staged, Hindi-translated version of The Office (US), its episodes lifting their plots from the American version. Gags like the stapler prank are translated and re-used, with Desi Michael Scott (Jagdeep Chadda, played by Mukul Chadda) delivering the infamous “that’s what she said” refrain poorly in Hindi.
Unoriginality disappoints viewers. The French adaptation of The Office, Le Bureau, flopped for being a far-too-British transposition in a Parisian context. Canada’s La Job failed for imitating the British version. Successful variants, like Germany’s Stromberg and Israel’s HaMisrad, made the format their own, imbuing their own politically-incorrect blends of humour into the cringe-comedy template.
Even so, if you have never seen The Office (US), this show is a compelling slice-of-life look into a typical Indian office. For those who were born in the early 2000s, The Office (India) will have more contemporary relevance.
T.P. Mishra (Gopal Dutt), a deshbhakt version of Dwight Schrute, presents a timely cultural conundrum for Narendra Modi’s India. How will a show that humanises everyone make lovable a man who lusts for riots and even the torture of his co-workers?
There is still potential for this desi series to shine, but to do so, it must declare independence from the American script.
The Office (India)
Available on Hotstar
Rating: 2.5/5