Office Tigers (2006) User Reviews

Played pretty straight for a mockumentary

[saareman · 6/10 · 27 September 2006]

Reviewed at its 3rd & final screening at the Royal Ontario Museum Theatre on Sat. Sept. 16, 2006 during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film had World Premiered at the Paramount 3 Theatre the previous weekend on Sept. 9, 2006.

This felt like the India based Office Tiger company gave the filmmakers insider access in the hopes of getting a free promotional film out of it and the film only comes across as subversive in a few instances - the co-owner is caught off-guard in the midst of berating his much put upon secretary, the home lifestyles of the executives are compared to those of workers, the co-owner is actually proud to be still living in a messy hotel room after 6 years in India, another executive lives in a luxury mansion with pool but it seems his dog is his only friend.

After about 45 minutes we got the point, but the film went on for twice that long.

Director was a no-show for this 3rd screening so there was no Q&A.

Seems to lack vision but is still quite interesting

[bob the moo · 25 February 2008]

Office Tiger is a company established in India by two New York bankers several years ago. The concept is not a new one as the firm is essentially a call centre. However the difference is that Office Tiger quickly and professionally does the work that Western companies are too busy or lack the resource (time or money) to do themselves such as PowerPoint, accountancy and general admin. In this film we get access behind the scenes of the driven and focused company.

An interesting but not altogether successful documentary. Screened as a film in some places, I saw Office Tigers broken down as a series of films over several thirty minute slots and found it reasonably interesting. I can't say more than that because although the documentary is done in the style of The Office, it actually is nowhere near as real or as insightful. It sounds strange to say that because I am comparing a fictional comedy with a documentary but really for me it was true. With Office Tigers the interest comes with seeing the reality behind the cracks of the carefully managed image that is presented by the co-CEO but even this is not that interesting – just the sort of stuff you'd expect from any other office.

This leaves us with more of an insight into the work ethic in the parts of the world currently developing economically. We see the long hours, the testing working environment and the rigorous employment selection and the pressure put on them to succeed. This is interesting for a while but is not enough to make the film/series work as a whole. It is a shame because you can see so much potential with the access but yet the producers cannot seem to make it come together in the final edit. I'm not sure why but it does feel like they did not have a clear vision for what they were trying to do and as a result the film is rather so-so.

Overall then, an interesting but not that strong a documentary. The access and subject matter opens the door for commentary and some Office-style comedy but the editing cannot bring this out and instead just seems to edit together the footage without a lot of vision. Interesting to dip into but less than it really should have been.

From business POV

[salispahic · 4/10 · 14 November 2010]

I had to see the Office Tigers as a part of my MBA course, so I was watching it more as a student of management, than as a film goer, so this review might be from that angle.

Film starts as a story of a successful company, bus soon it turns into something completely different. The issue is that it looks like director made a wrong turn, which got her a better movie than expected. During the whole movie, those wrong turns are present, as if director tried to hide the problems, go there and then quick retreat. Almost as if the editor made a decision to save the film, to turn it from a promotional material for OT, into an insight.

I feel as if the director missed the opportunity. The problem that I have registered as a business person is that the quality of work produced is appalling, due to the fact that the employees are working 18 hours shifts for a prolonged period of time. You know, when you call a help desk and a person in Bombay answers the phone, it is quite possible they did not go home for a couple of days. You have a feeling the person on the other side is stupid and you get angry, and you know what, they are stupid. Sleep deprivation will cause symptoms people whose cognitive functions are not affected by the lack of sleep will call stupid. This was not shown in the film. You have to actually start thinking outside the film to get this. As if director wanted to show how their customers do not understand enough of OT problems and the editor tried to get the real message across, but without the director seeing it.

The film is trying to show how much time OT spends on continuous improvement of the employees through the on the job training. They have actually a full time trainer on the premises, but then you need to go online and to check that their attrition rate of more than 30% is on par with western call centers staffed by students and temps, and that only fast food industry has worse attrition rate than that. I am working for a call centre company and I know what 30% attrition rate does to a company. You have to employ recruiters, whose salaries are multiple times higher than those of our agents to hire agents, then you have to train agents and then huge number of them will drop out as soon as possible, causing a "toilet paper effect" (when you get one leaf out and all other leafs start moving and repositioning themselves to get out faster) This was not shown at all.

If you are a business person, watch this movie and try to get into the business side of things, it is an eye opener. As for the movie itself, it is below average, but I will have to check other films edited by Jake Roberts