The Office India Review: HotStar’s Remake Is a Faithful, Enjoyable Adaptation That Slowly Grows on You Thanks To Its Cast

The Office Review: The Indian version of The Office leaves Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch and sets itself in Wilkins Chawla, a paper sales company in Faridabad. The branch is under the threat of being shut down, or at best, face downsizing of staff. It is left upto the incompetent, irksome branch manager Jagadeep Chadda (Mukul Chadda) to handle the crisis, a responsibility given to him by the corporate supervisor Riya (Gauhar Khan). His team knows that he can't handle shit, and has to bear his idiosyncrasies while Jagadeesh tries to live to his self-appointed title of "Chief Fun Officer" in the crisis. Mukul Chadda on the Office Remake: The Day I Got the Role I Stopped Watching It.

There has been a lot said about the Indian remake of The Office. Truth to be told, even I was sceptical of the idea. It is an official remake, though, made with the blessing of David Brent who has envisioned the brilliant but short-lived original UK series. The US version had the more successful run and gave us one of the most iconic sitcom characters in irksome but well-meaning Michael Scott (Steve Carell). The Indian fans of the show felt that the idea of a remake (of a remake) wasn't a great idea. But were we hasty in outraging against a show that we hadn't seen yet?

In the past, we have had good remakes of popular foreign fictional shows like Pankaj Kapur's Zabaan Sambhal Ke ("Mind Your Language"), Anil Kapoor's 24 ("24"), and the underrated Powder ("The Wire"). But we also have really annoying remakes like Hello FRIENDS ("FRIENDS", yes that happened!), Badi Door Se Aaye Hai ("3rd Rock from the Sun") and Reporters ("The Newsroom"). So our remake report card isn't full of red marks. So where does The Office remake fit in?

Being a fan of both UK and US versions, I still found the desi take of The Office (created by Rajesh Devraj, directed by Rohan Sippy, Debbie Rao, Vivek Bhushan) to be quite decent. The remake follows the plot of the original series, closely, at least, that's what the first season told me, with cosmetic changes made per Indian aesthetics. So Jagadeep Chadda's unassuming, racism-laced jokes revolve around 'Madraasi' and 'Chinky' now, the 'Dundies' become 'Chaddies' and TP Mishra (Gopal Datt), the remake's sycophantic, annoying Dwight Schrute, is a right-winger and a shakha leader. Why, even Bollywood's favourite quality, nepotism, is inducted into the narrative.

The Office purists may call that the Indian remake as unnecessary and complain that they are not experimenting with the plot. The show also has a few teething problems when it comes to characters trying to live upto their OG counterparts.

But didn't the US version had the same problem in its first season too? Personally, I was hooked to Michael Scott's antics only from the season 2 episode "The Dundies". So if you really give some time and patience to this remake, it will definitely grow on you and has the potential to be binge-worthy. The humour works, but most importantly, it is the actors that make this remake work.

The biggest responsibility for making this show work falls on Mukul Chadda. With fans have already taken their pitchforks out to skewer him, the actor has the risible task to make his Jagadeep Chadda live upto Michael Scott's complexity of being irritating and yet affable. When we first see him, we get the feeling that Mukul is trying too hard to make the character his own. Which is interesting, since that is exactly the trait of Michael Scott, an over-pleaser, who ends up causing more harm than good in his eagerness. But once the show settles itself down in its comfort zone, Mukul also manages to fit himself into the dynamics of our expectations. He is still raw, but he isn't bad and his camaraderie with Gopal Dutt is fantastic.

The rest of the cast also gives us less to complain about. Sayandeep Sengupta (Amit) and Samridhi Dewan (Pammi) are endearing as the resident Jim and Pam of Wilkins Chawla. Sayandeep, particularly, manages to live upto John Krasinski's roguish charm and turns out to be the surprise package. Gopal Datt provides some of the most comical moments of the series. The rest of the cast - Gauhar Khan as Riya, Gavin Methalaka as the gluttonous Kutty, Abhinav Sharma as the opportunistic Sapan Gill, Priyanka Trehan as the cold Anjali, Preeti Kochar as the docile Sarla ji, Mayur Bansiwal as the harried HR head - all fit in well what their characters ask. Ranvir Shorey's cameo as the highly inappropriate sales rep Chopra adds more chutzpah to the proceedings. A little grouse though - the remake doesn't have any equivalent to Creed Bratton, who I believe, is US version's most deviously entertaining character.

Final Thoughts

Plot-wise, The Office veers very close to the original series, and may offer very few surprises. But it is a very faithful adaptation that works well within the Indian milieu, with both the setting and the characters tailored accordingly. Not to mention, it benefits from an all-round earnest performance from the entire cast. Do give this a try! (The first season of The Office is streaming on HotStar since June 28.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 28, 2019 05:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).