English Vinglish!!! A Film for every Indian middle-class family!!!

705th BLOG POST -->>

            I am done watching yet another movie- English Vinglish. This year has been one of the best for the industry in last decade. The kind of movies that has released needed guts to be made. It's not easy to even think for an artist that "I can do justice to a subject of this kind" but yet our Bollywood movie makers has taken the challenge and produced something that is not a bit less than perfection. English Vinglish is another example which shows how talented and challenging our movie makers are. How talented each and every actor of our fraternity is. How emotions are expressed in almost every minute of the movie. Let me share the plot of the movie that is copied from Wikipedia as it's perfectly written:

Shashi (Sridevi) is a middle-aged Maharashtrian housewife who earns some money by making and selling snacks (laddu). She is a dedicated homemaker who is taken for granted by her family. She is ridiculed for her poor English by her husband and teenage daughter. Sashi is the object of potshots by her husband (Adil Hussain), who has little respect for her real talent and her 7th grade daughter Sapna who is ashamed to even introduce her mother to her school folks and teachers because her English is weak.

While Shashi is in New York helping at her niece's wedding, she enrolls herself into an English speaking class that promises to teach the language in four weeks. The class comprises a Mexican nanny, a Pakistani cab driver, a Chinese hairstylist, a South Indian software engineer, an angry black kid, and a dishy French chef named Laurent (Mehdi Nebbou). Shashi quickly emerges as amongst the most promising and committed students in her class. She starts watching English films at night and doing her homework religiously - all to polish her English reading and writing skills and more importantly to earn respect that she duly deserves from her family. In the midst of her literary pursuit, she also finds her classmate Laurent (Mehdi Nebbou) getting attracted to her plain simple personality.

Despite several barriers, Shashi manages to achieve her goal. The movie ends with Shashi giving a speech (in English) at the wedding and stunning all by passing the test which her English tutor had set.

           The movie could have been monotonous if the writer, screen play editors, director and dialogue writers would not have been dedicated to this simple life story of an Indian woman. Each and every scene that is shown in the movie makes each of us relate Sashi with our mothers. I for sometimes fell that my mother has been scrutinized before designing the character of Sashi. And not only me, everyone who watches this movie feels the same. The perfectness that has been embedded into the character of Sashi and her family is something for which I want to applause Gauri Shinde- the creator of this movie. I would also give my warm thanks to Sunil Lulla, R. Balki, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and R. K. Damani for producing a film that does not need a success on Box Office. It has won so many hearts. That's enough for a story teller. My respect goes to all the makers. 

              Coming to Sri Devi, I have heard so much about her. It has been 14 years since he stopped working but her comeback gave me a chance to flourish the opportunity of experiencing a Sri Devi movie. Now I know what magnificence and stardom this lady possesses. She has a special talent of keeping you emotional right from the first cut of the movie till the last second of it. I was choked throughout. She has played the character of a typical Indian woman/housewife so up to the mark that not for a single minute did I feel that I am not watching my mother. With the age, she has played a role that perfectly suited her personality. Every time she cried, I cried. Every time she turned angry, I hated everyone who made her angry. Every time she smiled with the little success she got towards her goal, I rejoiced it with her matured smile. 

             I remember the pleasure when I saw my mother stepping on the escalator in a mall with full confidence. A smile of pride that she carried after it was unbeatable. I remember the first time when she went to McDonalds with me. She was enough nervous to run back in more speed than of P. T. Usha's. But after few visits when she herself gave an order, she looked at me with eyes that said,"Beta, are you proud of me?". The first time when she sent me a SMS by learning it herself and then calling me just after the Delivery report to confirm if I received it or not, that was another emotional moment for her. The message was "I love you beta". :-) This movie made me remember each and every moment I shared with my mother of such kind. It also made me realize how I have intentionally/unintentionally made fun of her weaknesses. And it's evident from the fact that just after 10 minutes of the movie, my mother said,"I am getting depressed with each minute of the movie". I hugged her and said,"Main kahaan aapka majaak udaata hun?" She replied,"Film khatm hone k baad samjhega maa ka dard". And literally at the end of the movie I was in tears. I hugged my mummy and said,"You need not learn anything to prove yourself or to gain respect. Being a housewife is the most difficult job. You are doing it perfectly. And I love you for that". She was still in emotions of the movie which depicted her own story. :-) This is the effect of ENGLISH VINGLISH!!!

            The initial credits with visuals itself shows the number of times a housewife has to leave her morning's cup of tea to help all the other family members get ready for their day. The 3-minutes cameo of Amitabh Bachchan is perfectly designed. Nothing could have been more hilarious than that. And the lines for Amitabh Bachchan in initial credits by Gauri Shinde is so perfectly written- "100 years of Indian Cinema. 70 years of Amitabh Bachchan. Happy Birthday to you. Thanks". WOW! What a tribute! The dithering scene of Sashi ordering at a cafe store in New York for the first time made me shiver. An effective scene. Every time Sashi is in anger, you can see a trademark style of Sridevi back on screen. :-) In one scene where she's angry and she places her order in English without stammering, it made me jump in excitement. That's such a victorious moment for every Indian son. :-) The talking session in the English class is another hilarious piece of the movie. And I have no words for the climax. There could have been nothing better than that. 

            Please go for the movie. Not alone but with your mother. And if your father continuously makes her feel that being a housewife is an effortless job, take him too. Film will surely touch your heart. Because it's not a movie, it's your own mother's story. And won't you love watching your mother on screen? Obviously YES. Please go for it. 

  Thanks.

  ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU