The Office (India/Hindi Edition) — Season 2 on Hotstar — Review
Spoilers Ahead. Previous season review here.
I am a huge fan of The Office — US Edition. I must have watched it some hundreds of times. Especially, Seasons 1 to Seasons 7. The show got boring after Michael left.
So, Season 2 of the Hindi edition is here. I have watched it two times, and let’s see how good it is.
Full On Remake
The first season of The Office (India/Hindi Edition) was an odd mix of events from the first few seasons of The Office (US). That sort of makes sense because, the US edition was only 6 episodes. The Hindi/India edition was some 13 episodes. They had to remix some events from future seasons.
This time though, they have a lot more parity in terms of episodes. Season 2 of Hindi/India season is about 16 seasons. This also means, they are now on full on remake mode. The remake goes to the point where the actors are mimicking facial expressions, dialogue lines and even camera angles!
Of course, the US edition is inspired by the UK edition (which I have seen, a few episodes). The US folks did not do a remake. That made the UK edition a different experience. Here, we don’t get that. What we get are scene by scene recreation of what happened in the US edition.
Is that a problem? Yes and No. Yes, because, it makes the Indian edition show runners appear lazy. They could have inserted their own scenes, some new jokes and camera angles. No, because, it’s still funny. Further, I doubt Hotstar wants those who watched the US edition to watch this one. Hotstar is probably aiming for a fresh audience which does not know about the US edition. Or, knows about, but the language barrier stopped them from watching it.
Friend Zone
Obviously, the Indian versions of Pam and Jim, go through the same narrative. Pammi is still engaged and Amit is still pining for her. I still question the validity of any girl (especially one as attractive as Pammi remaining in an engagement after 3 years with no marriage) not able to get out of that engagement and marry someone else. That does not translate well to India where young girls find it rather easy to find a partner, and get married. Even if she is not interested, parents would be on a war path to make it happen.
At the very least, she would become single, with the engagement cancelled much early.
Anyway, I suppose, we can excuse that. So yeah, Amit and Pammi’s friend zone thing. Both the actors are likeable. Pammi, in particular, is a really good version of Pam. Amit is also okay. Their scenes have the same warm feeling that the original scenes have. As with the rest of the cast, the extended season allows all of them to grow into their roles.
Jagadeep Chadda
Mukul Chadda has really gotten very good at imitating Steve Carell. His role was already the more well developed of the characters in season one. Here, he has gotten much better. Really expanded to absorb the full range of funny and stupid and all that defines Michael Scott.
I have no complaints. In fact, I have no complaints at all and hence nothing else to write here. He is awesome. Both the actor and the character.
T.P. Mishra — Finally getting his due
I complained in my review of Season One that the role of Dwight, now T.P. Mishra, was reduced. There were less pranks. Less stuff happening around him, and also his romance was non-existent.
In season 2, finally, we have the full version of Dwight. You have the pranks. You have the ongoing chemistry with the Jim character. There is also romance. The actor — Gopal Dutt, as it is with Mukul Chadda, does a good impression of Dwight. Further, he has more original lines, sequences and cultural phrases to say.
Most of the cast are direct copies. They are people living in city. City life in US and in India, are mostly identical. The full on remake thing works just fine. However, Dwight has this rural American feel to him. So, the Hindi edition Mishra, has to be converted to rural Indian. Rural America and Rural India are very different entities while also having some common factors to it. They are also have more ties to American and Indian cultures.
I like this very much. I like Dwight and I like the fully fleshed out T.P. Mishra. Good.
Final Note
All in all, I enjoyed the second season of Hotstar’s Hindi Version. Even more than I did the first season. It is irritating that they did not put original jokes or sequences. They could have at least changed the camera angles. It makes the whole thing lazy. Yet, they do a good job of copying and have made a fantastic play with the T.P. Mishra character.
All in all, a very good show to enjoy and watch for fan’s of the US edition and also first time viewers.
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