Movie Review : English Vinglish (2012) (Hindi) *** 1/2 Rating

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English Vinglish ∞ The Class for Earning Self Respect ∞

Movie Review: English Vinglish    *** 1/2 Rating

Theatre Release: 5 Oct 2012

Language: Hindi

Direction: Gauri Shinde

Label: Hope Productions| IBC Spotlight

Genre: Family Dram

Viewers Group: Family &  All

The Critique Lab Score Board

   AVA Score:                          :  8.17 (Max  10)

   AVA Medal Honor™©         :  ŏ Titanium

   Recommendation Level          :   High (Read Review)

Reference 

(  ŏ BRONZE Medal   ŏ  SILVER Medal  ŏ Titanium Medal ŏ Gold Medal  ŏ Platinum Medal )

( L-low   M-medium   H-high  M-must))

“If we don’t love ourselves we use to attract towards new things but as soon as we began to love ourselves we feel confident and old things look prettier again.” This is one dialogue from the movie’s lead protagonist which teaches how one can come back to his normal life; English Vinglish is a sweet Laddu with almonds of a logical script, cashew nuts of nice music, raisins of love and pistachios of Hope. English Vinglish is not about just English classes, it’s just a metaphor or platform to narrate a simple yet very effective story of self determination, self respect and love about family and love about ourselves.

English Vinglish is undoubtedly a movie about the Family, the children and their attitude towards their parents, the husband who does not see his wife skills and potential beyond a born laddu maker and yes, it’s about a mother who lost her identity as a woman in the society after marriage being a house wife, as her world does not go beyond her family.

Shashi Godbole (Sridevi) is a simple middle class housewife living with her husband Satish (Adil Hussain) along with her daughter Sapna and a son named Sagar in Pune, India. She is an excellent cook searching for her own respect among children and husband due to poor understanding of English language. One day she got the call from her sister to visit New York to attend her daughter‘s wedding, but she was reluctant to go alone because of her poor English language, thou she finally agreed on her husband’s persuasion. In New York, during her visit to a café she felt humiliated due to her understanding of English language which brought a reason for her  to fight against the odds and make a place for herself. She left from there and suddenly saw an advertisement  for four weeks  English speaking classes and that’s how  she got the way to prove herself  by  learning a language which is  global now and a synonym  of ‘Being Modern’ in Indian societies called ENGLISH, for Her VINGLISH.

Gauri Shinde, as her first directorial debut has done a pleasant job to narrate a simple story in its most original and logical format without putting unnecessary Ohh & Laa Factor . The story telling is very compelling and adorable with a decent direction plot and balanced humor. Here I just want to congratulate her to being genuine and show respect   for the cross-culture community without making them a part of ridiculous jokes. This is because any one who is reading this review must understand that America is not just about Hollywood, Burgers and Sex, the perception of majority lies with that because their popular cinema serves the same to the world.There are instances in the movie which reflects the richness of a civilized culture. As a lady director, she does not emphasis only on a woman or a melodramatic drama like our daily soaps but she successfully handles a story which is novel and family oriented. Also,the songs of the movie does not interrupt the flow of the movie they just move with the flow.

For Performances let’s start with Shri Shri Sridevi ji, it would be very wrong to say that this movie is a comeback for her, not a moment you will feel that she ever had gone from the cinema or your heart. She is an absolutely delight to watch as a middle class mother in her most natural form of acting. Anyone could relate with her as a mother, wife or a friend. Despite there were no dialogues of melodrama still she successfully makes your heart cry and eyes wet. She is awesome, we love her.

Adil Hussain as  Satish &  Shashi’s  husband is effective and  Shashi’s Daughter Sapna  in her stubborn and arrogant avatar justifies the role but  its master Shivansh Kotia as Shashi’s  son  Sagar who  will definitely  make you smile with his adorable act. He is one of the sweetest kid debutant this year in cinema.

Priya Anand as Shashi’s niece did an impressive job despite sharing screen with Sridevi and yes, French Actor Mehdi Nebbou as Laurent and Shashi’s Class mate made an impressive entry in Indian cinema.

All other actors like Sujata Kumar as Shashi’s Sister, Coy Hibbs as teacher, Rajeev Ravindranathan as P. Ramamurthy ,Summit Vyas as Salman, Damian Thompson as Udumbke, Maria Romano as Yu Som, Neelu Sodhi as Meera , Ross Nathan as Kevin, Mariz Pendlino as Jennifer and Sulbha Deshpande ji as Shashi’s Mother in Law does a decent job.

Regarding Music, Swanand Kirkire, the lyrist and Amit Trivedi as music composer delightfully  served you fresh and novel songs. ‘Navrai Majhi’ with traditional beat is excellent. Most of the songs are made up of 2-3 words liners compositions like Gustakh Dil, English Vinglish title track, Manhattan which is a unique factor, kudos to Swanand. Sound Design by Academy award winner Resul Pookutty is worth mentioning.

Cinematography by Laxman Utekar is decent and Editing by Hemanti Sarkar is noticeable.

Story and Screenplay by Gauri Shinde is worth mentioning  and had few moments which could be recollect

-          Amitabh bacchan and Sridevi ‘s shot  in plane while she was going to New York

-          Shashi‘s visit to café and the humiliation she faced while ordering the sandwich and coffee.

-          Shashi’s visit to her daughter School for PTA and her realization of failure being a mother

-          Shashi’s realization of being an entrepreneur then just being a Laddu Maker

-          Shashi’s respect for her gay teacher and the way she makes other students understand the importance of humanity.

-          Shashi’s  revelation  to get self respect than Love  when her niece  asked  if he began to love her classmate Laurent  (Mehdi Nebbou)

-          And of course the climax speech of the Shashi during her niece wedding.

Overall, English Vinglish is a memorable watch for the genuine script, superb performances, nice music and definitely the feel good factor it has. In Last scene, Shashi requests the air hostess a Hindi newspaper in English Language, and that’s we called in Sridevi’s MJ Style without getting ‘Judgemental’ –YoOO.

Regards

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Disclaimer: The ideas, feelings, expressions and views expressed hereby are purely personal. The critique/reviewer tries to keep himself completely free from any status quo of the personalities related, award nominations or wins, box office performances with the reviewed Movie/Product/Service to give fair and unbiased judgment. Readers’ cooperation is solicited.