Outsourced

This movie takes on the subject of American jobs being outsourced to India. And it is a comedy. The challenge is not an easy one.

Still the movie has us meet Todd, a Call Center Manager in America who is told that his company is closing his office. Todd however is told that he can go to India and train his replacements. Todd, does not really want to do this but is convinced to do so as his stocks in the company have not yet vested.

Arriving in India he finds the challenge before him to be extreme. The employees do not perform as the American employees do and have to deal with the persistent anger from American consumers.

Soon enough Todd has the employees performing well. He soon also finds himself not considering his assignment a sentence but instead actually immerses himself in the Indian culture. He begins to enjoy his time and appreciate his employees. He tells them that they can personalize their desks and they respond in much the way Americans would. He finds that they are interested and place value in the products that they are answering inquiries on. Basically the products are cheesy gifts and assorted crap but still they find anything that they picture as Americanized to be having value.

Over time Todd develops a relationship with both is subordinate who he is training to run the shop, a man who looks forward to the supervisory position to allow for him to take the wife of his dreams, as well as with a young, strong minded Indian woman who works and strives hard to better herself.

Eventually one of those relationships becomes romantic, with the girl of course, and after an awkward consumation at a Hotel called Kama Sutra, Todd discovers that the young lady is engaged in an arranged marriage.

The movie is not entirely predictable. Comedy or not it puts a face to the folks we find it too hard to hate on the other end of our phone calls. We all know on some level that any anger we feel about Outsourcing should not be at employees but the Americans who send the jobs away.

If this movie helps that message be delivered if even on a subliminal level that too is a service.

A cute movie available on streaming from Netflix.