English Vinglish Dvd

English Vinglish is a 2012 Indian comedy-drama film, written and directed by Gauri Shinde. The narrative revolves around a woman named Shashi, a small entrepreneur who makes snacks. Shashi enrolls in an English-speaking course to stop her husband and daughter mocking her lack of English skills and gains self-respect in the process. The protagonist, played by Sridevi, was inspired by Shinde’s mother. English Vinglish was originally made in Hindi; later it was partially re-shot in Tamil and released along with a Telugu dubbed version on 5 October 2012. The film marked Sridevi’s return to film-acting after a 15-year hiatus; it features Adil Hussain, French actor Mehdi Nebbou, and Priya Anand. Amitabh Bachchan and Ajith Kumar had cameo appearances in the Hindi and Tamil versions respectively.

English Vinglish premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation Before its release, the film was screened for the Indian press and critics. The film received widespread critical acclaim with reviewers praising Shinde’s screenplay and direction, Sridevi’s performance as well as the film’s soundtrack and cinematography. It became a major financial success as well, grossing ₹91.42 crore against a budget of ₹10 crore.

English Vinglish won all of the Best Debut Director awards of 2012 for Gauri Shinde. It was shortlisted as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The film earned global acclaim at several international festivals and Sridevi was hailed as the “Meryl Streep of India” and the “female Rajinikanth in India”.

Plot

Shashi Godbole (Sridevi) is an Indian homemaker from Pune who makes and sells laddoos as a home-run business. Her husband Satish (Adil Hussain) and daughter Sapna mock her due to poor English Language skills, and generally treat her with disrespect, making Shashi feel negative and insecure. However, her young son, Sagar, loves her as she is, and her mother-in-law offers her words of sympathy.

Shashi’s older sister Manu, who lives in New York City, invites Shashi’s family to her daughter Meera’s wedding to Kevin. It is decided that Shashi will go to New York alone five weeks before the wedding to help Manu organize. Her husband and children will join her as the wedding approaches. During her flight to New York, Shashi is given inspirational advice by a fellow passenger(Ajith Kumar) in Tamil and (Amitabh Bachchan)in hindi. While Shashi is in New York, she has a traumatic experience at a cafe due to her inability to communicate in English. She is comforted by a French chef Laurent who happened to be queuing up behind her at the cafe.

Using the money she made from selling laddoos, Shashi secretly enrolls in a conversational English class that offers to teach the language in four weeks, showing her resourcefulness at navigating an unfamiliar city alone. The class comprises the instructor David Fischer, a Mexican nanny named Eva, a Pakistani cab driver named Salman Khan, a Chinese hairstylist named Yu Son, a Tamil software engineer named Ramamurthy, a closeted African-Caribbean man named Udumbke, and Laurent. Shashi quickly becomes a promising and committed student, earns everyone’s respect with her charming behavior and her cuisine, and gains self-confidence. Laurent becomes attracted to Shashi. In a confrontation, when he tries to kiss her, Shashi rejects him and runs off, but fails to explain that she is married.

Meanwhile, Shashi’s niece Radha (Priya Anand), who is Meera’s younger sister, finds out about her secret English classes and is supportive of her pursuit. Shashi starts watching English films at night and does her homework assiduously. To complete the English-speaking course and get an academic certificate, each student must write and deliver a five-minute speech. Shashi’s family joins her in New York earlier than planned to surprise her. Shashi tries to continue attending class but decides to quit because of scheduling conflicts. The test date coincides with that of the wedding, forcing Shashi to miss the test.

Radha invites David and the entire class to the wedding, where Satish is taken aback at being introduced to a diverse group of people by his wife. Shashi gives a touching and enlightening toast to the married couple in English, surprising everyone who knew her as a typical, conservative, Indian homemaker. In her speech, Shashi extols the virtues being married and having a family, describing the family as a safe space of equality, respect and love where weaknesses are not mocked. Satish and Sapna regret treating her with disrespect. David declares that she has passed the course with distinction and issues her the certificate. Shashi thanks Laurent for making her feel better about herself.

The film ends in which it is shown Shashi and her family return to India, where she respectfully and confidently declines reading an English newspaper on the plane due to the unavailability of a Hindi/Tamil one.

Cast

Sridevi as Shashi Godbole
Adil Hussain as Satish Godbole, Shashi’s husband
Mehdi Nebbou as Laurent, a French chef
Priya Anand as Radha Desai, Shashi’s niece / Manu Desai’s younger daughter
Navika Kotia as Sapna Godbole, Shashi and Satish’s daughter
Shivansh Kotia as Sagar Godbole, Shashi and Satish’s son
Sujata Kumar as Manu Desai, Shashi’s elder sister
Cory Hibbs as David Fischer, Shashi’s English teacher
Ruth Aguilar as Eva, a Mexican nanny
Sumeet Vyas as Salman Khan, a Pakistani cab-driver
Rajeev Ravindranathan as Ramamurthy, an Indian technocrat
Damian Thompson as Udumbke, an introverted African
Maria Romano as Yu Son, a Chinese hairdresser
Neelu Sodhi as Meera Desai, Shashi’s niece / Manu Desai’s elder daughter / Kevin’s wife
Ross Nathan as Kevin
Maria Pendolino as Jennifer
Sulabha Deshpande as Mrs. Godbole, Shashi’s mother-in-law
Ashvin Mathew as Father Vincent, Sapna’s school-teacher
Amitabh Bachchan as a passenger on the flight (Hindi original version)
Ajith Kumar as a passenger on the flight (Tamil dubbed and partially re-shot version)