English Vinglish

English Vinglish is a film I had been waiting for due to two reasons. One, it was Sridevi’s comeback movie and like everyone of my generation I am a huge fan of hers. Two, the story that came from the trailers interested me. I could not go watch the movie in theatre as I have been busy taking care of my home and kids like Shashi Godbole (Sridevi’s character in the movie). That is also one of the primary reasons why I have not been writing of late. But finally I got to see the movie last night and what a treat I had.

I’m not going to bore you with the usual movie review. You have read all that long back. I just want to share a few things that I liked.

All the Hallmarks of a Woman Director

Quite a few scenes and dialogues displayed an understanding that only a woman can have. The now famous dialog by the protagonist’s husband, “My wife is made to make laddoos,” was one of them. How that simple mindless statement hurts and shapes her personality can be deemed important enough only by a woman. But my favourite scene is Shashi’s reaction on being called an entrepreneur in her first English class. Her work, or hobby as she liked to refer to it, had always been ridiculed by her husband and getting recognition from complete strangers gave her a high like nothing else till then.

Importance of Own Income for Every Homemaker

The movie is a poignant reminder to every homemaker that she (since most of the homemakers around the world are still females, I stick to use of this pronoun!!) needs to have an independent source of income to feel free and confident. The whole story would have come to an end the moment Shashi didn’t have $400 to shell out. So while the fight to put monetary value to household chores continues, homemakers must find ways to create purchasing power for themselves. Moreover, monetary label to the domestic work is not going to actually put money into homemaker’s hands!!

Insensitivity of Kids to Others’ in Today’s Age

My mother often tells me that as a kid I used to ask her, “Do you know English?” or would feel surprised if she read an English article or tuned to English conversations on TV. But that was when I was may be 7-8 yrs old. What you see in the movie is a high school girl ridiculing her mother because she doesn’t know English. I feel that this aspect was overemphasized in the movie and made overly melodramatic as it augmented the storyline. But my take away from it is that kids in general are very insensitive to others’ feeling and emotions. Of course, moms are the ones who bear the maximum brunt. In this age when we talk more of EQ and SQ than the IQ, it’s really sad.

Overall, English Vinglish was a good movie to watch; enjoyable, sensitive, emotional and at times thought provoking too. I would like to see more such movies and more women directors coming out of Bollywood.

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