Tumhari Sulu (transl. Your Sulu) is a 2017 Indian comedy-drama film written and directed by Suresh Triveni and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Tanuj Garg, Krishan Kumar, Atul Kasbekar and Shanti Sivaram Maini under the banners of T-Series and Ellipsis Entertainment.
The film stars Vidya Balan as the titular character, an ambitious housewife who becomes a radio jockey for a late-night relationship advice show. Manav Kaul and Neha Dhupia co-star as Sulu’s husband and boss, respectively. Tumhari Sulu was released worldwide on 17 November 2017, to become both a critical and box office success which earned over ₹840 million on a ₹200 million budget. The film received nine Filmfare Award nominations and won Vidya her fourth Best Actress award . It was remade in Tamil as Kaatrin Mozhi (2018) with Jyothika reprising Vidya’s role.
Plot
Sulochana Dubey, nicknamed Sulu (Vidya Balan), is a middle-class housewife living in Virar with her family. Sulu enjoys her life to the fullest with her husband Ashok (Manav Kaul) and 11-year-old son. She dreams of being a working woman, but since she couldn’t complete high school, she is unable to apply to white collar jobs. Her elder twin sisters mock her, seeing her as beneath them due to her education. Her husband, Ashok works as a manager in a tailoring firm: a frustrating job as everyone apart from him is unreasonable and over the age of sixty. On top of that, the firm is taken over by the owner’s grandson, who is extremely rude. Her son is teased by a group of students who sell R-rated magazines and videos.
One day, Sulu wins a contest hosted by her favourite radio station and goes to the station to collect her prize. There, she sees a poster of auditions for an RJ, and feels that this is the job she is meant for. She meets the boss, Maria (Neha Dhupia), who finds her extrovert nature intriguing and gives her an opportunity to audition. Sulu laughs throughout the audition but at the end, says ‘Hello’ in a sensual tone, which impresses Maria. Maria asks if she would be able to do a call-in night show, where people would call her to talk about their problems and Sulu agrees.
Ashok is irritated at first that she took up the job without discussing with him but relents out of love for her. On her first day, Sulu faces an annoying caller who tries to change their chat into an obscene one. She is able to tactfully handle it. Next, she gets a request to sing, and excitedly does a song she only sings for her husband. Ashok is annoyed by all this, as well as frustrated with his new boss, who treats him terribly. Sulu’s family are angry with her show and want her to quit but Ashok stands by her. The show becomes successful, making the radio station happy. Sulu also enjoys her work but Ashok continues taking out his frustration at home about both his job and hers. Sulu’s life becomes high at work and low at home.
One day, the principal of her son’s school reveals that her son has been charging other kids for showing phone videos he stole from Ashok, as well as faking Ashok’s signatures. Her son is suspended from school, which becomes a serious issue at home. Her sisters blame her, saying that because of her job, she has neglected her son and her low level of education is influencing him. They say she has to quit her job but Sulu takes a tough stand, rejecting their conditions. She later gets a call that her son is missing. They find a note by him, revealing he is ashamed of what he has done and is sad that his mother had to leave her job because of him. He requests his father to support his mother and her work.
The police find Sulu’s son the next day and bring him home. Sulu resigns from the show, feeling that she is not able to handle the conflict it is causing at home. As she leaves, she finds the receptionist arguing with the tiffin service guy. She has an idea and requests Maria to give her the tiffin service contract. Next, we see that Ashok is now managing the tiffin business and Sulu going to her job, managing both the household and her professional life in her own style.
Cast
Vidya Balan as Sulochana “Sulu” Dubey
Manav Kaul as Ashok Dubey, Sulu’s husband
Vijay Maurya as Pankaj Rai Baaghi, poet and creator of the late night talk show at the radio station ‘Radio Wow’
Neha Dhupia as Maryam “Maria” Sood, Sulu’s employer at ‘Radio Wow’
RJ Malishka as RJ Albeli Anjali, Sulu’s colleague at ‘Radio Wow’
Abhishek Sharrma as Pranav, Sulu’s son
Ayushmann Khurrana as himself (Special Appearance)
Mahesh Pillai as School Principal
Sindhu Shekharan as Aradhana, one of Sulu’s elder twin sisters
Seema Taneja as Kalpana, the second twin sister
Trupti Khamkar as lady cab driver
Santanu Ghatak as Sanjay, boss of Ashok Dubey
Uday Lagoo as Sulu’s father
Hitesh Dave as grocery shop owner
Shashi Ranjan as Ramesh
Sonel Singh as Girija – Receptionist at the radio station ‘Radio Wow’
Vibhavari Deshpande as Constable
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