Red Carpet of The Screening of Hotstar Specials 'The Office' | Mukul Chadda | Gauhar Khan

Posted On: 01 July 2019

Based on the highly appreciated and loved franchise, adapted for television across the world, The Office is arriving in India as a Hotstar Specials on June 28. The Office, both the UK and the US version had characters that relied on offensive commentary, including sexism, misogyny among other traits, to derive amusement and lead cast of the show--Mukul Chadda and Gauahar Khan--agree that the Indian adaptation is no different. Chadda's character is modeled on David Brent (Ricky Gervais) and Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Khan's character has evolved from Jennifer Taylor-Clarke (Stirling Gallacher) and Jan Levinson-Gould (Melora Hardin), from the UK and the US versions of The Office, respectively. Chadda, who plays the overbearing office manager Jagdeep Chaddha, is already gaining traction for his dialogues that featured in the trailer. About the show's humour and how the environment of an office set-up lends to it, Chadda says, "In an office the status of everyone is well defined and relationships are very clear, which leads to a lot of humour straightaway. For instance, people make relationships outside of work, and personally, their relationships change. All these things add to the interesting dynamic that is already there." He adds, "Chaddha is a politically incorrect character. But at the same time there is a difference between him being politically incorrect and the show being one. The show's politics and that of the character are two different things and we have aimed that the show does not end up being insensitive." Like everyone in an office milieu, Chadda also has a boss, which is being played by Khan here. About her character Ria, she says, "She knows her space and she is not getting into the office politics. Her point of contact is Chaddha and she knows how to get things done. She is not in the moral space at all but if she has to correct people, she knows how to do it." Adapted in India by Rohan Sippy, Debbie Rao and Vivek Bhushan, The Office comes from Applause Entertainment, which has previously made Criminal Justice, Hostages and City of Dreams.