Review: 'English Vinglish'

Film: English Vinglish (Hindi)Director: Gauri ShindeCast: Sridevi, Mehdi Nebbou, Priya AnandRating: ***1/2We’ve been talking about Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish for practically half the year and so this film hit screens with a lot of expectations to meet. And meet it did as the 129-minute long tribute to the ever-gorgeous Sridevi made every single person in the audience smile, laugh, cry and connect with Shashi Godbole — the pretty, town-educated, middle-aged, Hindi-spouting Marathi housewife.Before we go into the long list of why this film is one of the best films out of Bollywood this year, we assumed we’d list out what we thought didn’t work in the movie.Sridevi looked plastic in a few scenes — yes. Sridevi didn’t quite come across as a Marathi housewife in several scenes, much like rest of the cast — yes. The movie seemed to reinforce several stereotypes — yes. That said, however, the film as a whole had enough chutzpah to ensure that a regular film buff would still walk away satiated, oblivious of these ‘supposed’ faults.And now for the long list of what worked. Gauri Shinde deserves an applause for such an amazing debut. We did see influences of Balki’s style, but she appropriated them wisely, making them her own.To Amit Trivedi and Swanand Kirkire — the honour of an amazingly hummable soundtrack with equally catchy lyrics — good enough to have the whole audience sing along as the credits roll. To Priya Anand — the credit of being one of the few Indian actors to carry off a New-York born NRI role convincingly and look adorable enough to eat, all through the film. To Sulabha Deshpande and Adil Hussain — for real representations of an adorable Marathi mother-in-law and a typical Indian ‘educated’ husband (who is not a monster in reality) respectively. To Cory Hibbs, Rajeev Ravindranathan, Sumeet Vyas, Ruth Aguilar, Damian Thomson and Maria Romano — for sweet memories of Mind Your Language, re-presented, but with loads of original fun. To Ashvin Mathew — for one of the most true-to-life portrayals of a friendly Catholic priest and the perfect catapult to Shashi’s rediscovery of her self-worth. To Shivansh Kotia — for being one of the most adorable little things we’ve seen in Bollywood in the last few years. To Mehdi Nebbou — for a great performance, almost sinfully wrong in parts and for reinforcing that much-indulged belief that all Frenchmen are hot and speak with the most arousing accents on planet Earth.And finally, to Sridevi — for being all that we expected her to be — just incomparably charming, real, believable and a pleasure to watch almost non-stop for two hours. She is the very heart and soul of the film, without comparison. Phew!The movie is a tribute to ‘brand Sridevi’ in every way and even a cameo by the Big B himself, in a never before seen avatar, couldn’t manage to steal away the limelight from Bollywood’s biggest sweetheart. We were also highly appreciative of Laxman Utekar’s cinematography and loved how each and every scene in the film burst with the colours of summer and happiness, only complemented by the incomparable wardrobe by the master of the Indian sari himself — Sabyasachi.This is that film that you ought to take your family to watch. A film that describes the trials of being a non-English speaker in an increasingly English world. The movie wonderfully narrates a tale of a typical Indian housewife who manages to win back her self-respect by redefining her own boundaries. A process that begins when she is forced to face her biggest fears and overcome her low self-esteem, through situations unknowingly created by the very people who cause the problem in the first place.English Vinglish is a classic in its own right and will be celebrated for generations to come. This is apparently the kind of film you get when you combine great actors, superb technical talent, a spirited director and Sridevi — a masterpiece that will leave you a better person in some way or the other.