Movie Review: 'English Vinglish'

It is so pleasantly surprising to see the intact naughty spark of Hawa Hawai in Shashi’s Michael Jackson steps and Chandani’s subdued charm in Shashi’s home-making chores. The movie shows Sridevi (Shashi) as a dedicated housewife who takes care of two kids, sympathetically-caring husband and sorrow-sharer mother-in-law. She runs a small home business of catering snacks to the households along with satisfying her family needs. Appreciation for her expertise in laddoo-making gives her a big smile and family-contempt for her ignorable inability to speak fluent English reverses the same. Given the chance to help out with her niece’s wedding, she takes this scoffing-at-her-broken-English bull by its horns and joins the English class to learn the language. Shashi’s being very jubiliant for getting her identity as an ‘Entrepreneur’, her effective cross-language communication with her love-struck French classmate and her performing family duties while thrusting aside her already neglected emotions are some of the gems the movie has nicely crafted. 

There are a few scenes that demand answers from the flash-ridden society. Shashi’s constant quest of ‘respect’ from the love she gets from her family not only strikes a strong chord but compels the audience to think over. The film has bared the harm being done by the pretentious layer of perceived sophistication to the deeply rooted, strong values of traditional India. Kudos to Gauri Shinde for she could see Shashi in Sri. The continual little shudder in Sri’s voice seems just perfect for the role she had so impeccably performed. All the characters are so aptly chosen and do justice to their roles.  My claps go to  Amit Trivedi for his real zappy numbers. Everything is just perfect but if one needs to nitpick, a bit stretch in the second half is something that is not totally called for. However, Sridevi shadows the same whenever she commands the screen. It’s a good blend of comedy, courage, emotion and inspiration. Sridevi while learning English teaches Acting to her fellow actors. This is the movie with the meaning and one shouldn’t miss something really unmissable.