India is the latest country to get its own version of Ricky Gervais's The Office
Jagdeep Chaddha will be the resident David Brent at Wilkins Chawla
David Brent is going to India – and fortunately not with his Foregone Conclusion tour (think of the Native American-esque song he’d write for it). BBC Worldwide has announced that the country will soon have its own version of Ricky Gervais’ acclaimed mockumentary.
But, as you’d guess, there’s going to be a few changes. Firstly, there’s the obvious: instead of being set on a trading estate in Slough, the new branch of The Office will open in an industrial park on the far outskirts of Faridabad, a satellite town of New Delhi.
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And Jagdeep Chaddha will be the boss of the Wilkins Chawla paper merchant (as opposed to the UK version’s Wernham Hogg). What kind of boss will Chaddha be? “[He] sees himself as a smart, fun and go-getting leader loved by his adoring team,” said the BBC. “But nothing could be further from the truth and his attempts to cheer and impress his staff invariably end in comic disaster”. Yup, sounds like Brent to us.
The show will also see a Tim/Dawn-style budding romance between Junior Sales Officer Amit Sharma, who finds himself drawn to Pammi the receptionist.
Ricky Gervais said: “I’m always excited and flattered to see remakes of my work, particularly as I’ve ended the David Brent saga now with Life On The Road. But when a country with a population of over a billion has a version I’m hoping for big ratings.”
India will now become one of the many countries that have remade the 2001 sitcom, with Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Sweden, Finland and the US also putting their own slant on the show.
The Office is available to watch now on Netflix
