Review: An official adaptation, 'The Office' (India) is not an improvement but not a deterioration either!

How do I even start? Before anything else, let me just say that it surely is a task to be having an open mind for watching an adapted show from one that has been iconic in a different setting in a different world. One thing, we viewers love to do is have a mindset and judgment even before we actually give any presentation a chance.

That can easily be the case here too as India officially remakes the popular American sitcom, The Office (with the same name) which itself was a remake of the original UK version, The Office.

So, to watch the Indian version, I needed to have an unprejudiced approach give the series an honest chance instead of ridiculing it right away. After having watched couple of episodes, here's what I thought-

Firstly, How Similar Is It?

The Office (India) continues to follow the same fashion that The Office (America) did from the original, which was remaking every scene from the original episodes. So, for the ones who are watching the American version right now and have managed to catch any episodes of the Indian version, please do not complain about 'copying-everything-scene-by-scene'.

So, considering the trend has continued, the whole setting stays the same with similar character sketches, traits, situations and plot points too. Of course, everything is Indianised for catering to the Indian audiences -  be it the jokes or the festive situations (which the American version was popular for).

Now, How Good or Bad Is It?

Coming to the million-dollar question, is the show actually good or is it a complete miss? In an attempt to continue the legacy of the sitcom, the Indian version has several misses more than the hits. Unlike several cynics out there who may think that the show is a total waste of time, one thing I guarantee you, that is not.
The Office (India) does the smart thing of not fidgeting with the traits and mannerisms of the original main characters that are of Michael Scott (Steve Carell), Jim (John Krasinski), Pam (Jenna Fisher) and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). These characters made the show what it is today and even though another version has come in, the paramount attributes stay as it is. Apart from that, there are some hilarious instances that were connected to Kutty and Rinchin in the second episode and of course, the famous hysterical joke surrounding the conversation between Jagdeep and his work friend (on phone) about Riya (Gauahar Khan) as she is hearing it.

Apart from these good instances, the show does have several misses. While the Indianising is done pretty well, it is the beauty and flavor of the American version that is lost here. In a mere 2 episodes, characters like Phyliss Vance (Phylis Smith) and Stanley Hudson (Leslie David-Baker) made an impact enough to make you love them instantly. Here, with characters like Sarla and Saleem, that is a total miss.  This is especially in the case of Saleem, where the character is plain boring and while the actor tries to enact Leslie's poker face expressions, he only comes off as blah!

Also, considering we don't have have a Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) here, we wonder how is the popular Kelly-Ryan love story (that was one of the central points of 9 seasons) going to be replaced with. Overall, the attempts are good, in fact, applaudable too, but the execution is not impressive though not bad either.

How Good or Bad Are the Adapted Characters?

The biggest disappointments come in with the adapted characters of Pam and Jim. Named Amit (Sayandeep Sengupta) and Pammi (Samridhi Dewan), these characters and the actors playing it seem so dull, you want to just move on the next scene. It is amazing how you go back and think about the exact same scenes played by John and Jenna in the American version and how they still managed to impress immediately. To her credit, Samridhi's Pammi doesn't have much to do in the first couple of episodes, so it may get better later, but Sayandeep playing Amit had major shoes to fill with John's Jim and he doesn't manage to do that.

Talk about major shoes to fill and we have to mention Dwight Schrute here (Rainn Wilson). Psychotic, delusional, weird, self-centered but somehow still everybody's favorite described Dwight Schrute; and here we have the character of T.P. Mishra, played by the phenomenal Gopal Datt. First of all, kudos to the casting team on having Gopal fill in for the character as we have seen the actor's brilliance with comedy, sarcasm, and slapstick in many sketches and videos. To his credit, Datt does really well in understanding the character, and as Dwight's psychotic actions cannot be mirrored here; T.P. Mishra has been given other traits to work with. Datt does his best and manages to impress in what he has been given to work with.

But one of the massive reasons for the American version to be as loved as it is was the love-hate relationship of Jim and Dwight. Why? Apart from the pranks and banter, the chemistry was good owing to the almost similar age group that Jim and Dwight belonged to. That clearly isn't the case here as T.P. Mishra, apart from being a senior is way older to Amit and hence, that takes away the fun in a lot of scenes.

Even though Mukul Chaddha, who plays the titular role of Jagdeep Chaddha tries his best to incorporate Michael Scott's weird, offensive, stupid acts; he doesn't do full justice to it. Not that he is bad, because he isn't. There are moments when he sparkles and is able to pull off a Michael Scott well but the overall package doesn't impress fully.

The Verdict

It is a certainty that The Office (India) isn't better or totally at par with the American or British version but it isn't a degradation too. At the end of it, The Office (India) is still a worthy watch especially for the ones who haven't seen the American and British version. For the ones who have seen it, like me, it still is a heartening watch if seen with an open mind.

Rating - **1/2 (2.5/5)