TNI Bureau: After a long break of 15 years Sridevi is back with a bang in ‘English Vinglish’. Gauri Shinde, director of the film has left no stone unturned to perfectly present a worthy subject starring the most talented Sridevi.
Sridevi is the only known actor in the film and she has shouldered the whole film without a hitch. Of course all the supporting characters have also played their best to do justice to their respective characters in the film.
‘English Vinglish’, as the title suggests is all about the journey of an Indian housewife to achieve triumph over this foreign language, in which she was not proficient at the beginning. Plot of the film revolves around Sashi, played by Sridevi, a middle aged Maharastrian woman, who lives in Mumbai along with her hubby (played by Adil Hussain), teenager daughter Sapna and son Sagar. She is not good at English and so while Sapna is embarrassed with her mother, her husband leaves no chance to mock the innocent, simple and devoted wife. Her son is the only companion to her in the family and very affectionate too.
Besides being a dedicated housewife Sashi also runs a part time business of making ‘Laddo’ and she enjoys it so much. Daily humiliation by the husband and daughter goes on but it crosses the limit, the day when her Husband makes fun of her saying “My wife was born to make laddoos.”
Fortunately after a while Sashi flies off to New York to attend her niece’s wedding. There, her niece (played by Priya Anand) comes to her help who supports her aunt’s desire to learn English. Within no time Sashi enrolls herself into English speaking class that promise to teach the language within a period of four weeks.
Sashi comes out to be the most committed student in her class, starts watching English films at night and works hard to shine her English reading and writing skills.
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In the midst of her quest for English, she comes across a helping classmate cum friend, a French man, (played by Mehdi Nebbou) who gets attracted to her for the simple personality. After crushing some sure shot hurdles finally Sashi manages to achieve her goal of winning English.
Some scenes in the film are more than fantastic and worth mentioning. The scene where Sridevi shares seat with Amitabh Bachchan on her way to the US is awesome. Secondly, the sad and emotional expression of Shri at the taunting of her hubby, with the remark that she was born to make laddoos. The scene at the coffee shop during her first lone outing in the US was also full of originality. Her last outburst when she finally delivers her lesson giving dialogue, speaking in stumbling English to match her character, was outstanding.
Gauri Shinde should be commended for taking such a nice topic first. Then, the perfect presentation of some real life lessons is admiring. In whole, the project is a nice one and watching the film worth every penny.
The film is a complete family entertainer and there is much to learn which can only be felt after watching ‘English Vinglish’.
Director & Writer: Gauri Shinde
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Our rating – **** 4 stars out of 5.