English Vinglish

***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 from 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 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 filmmaking 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.

### Produced by

Sunil Lulla, R. Balki,Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, R. K. Damani

### Box Office

₹91.42 crore

*English Vinglish* premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a five-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, and the film's soundtrack and cinematography. It became a significant financial success, grossing ₹91.42 crores against a budget of ₹ ten crores.

*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 honored as the "Meryl Streep of India" and the "female Rajinikanth in India."

## Plot

Shashi Godbole is an Indian homemaker who makes and sells laddoos as a home-run business. Her husband Satish and daughter Sapna take her for granted, mock her poor English skills, and generally treat her disrespectfully, 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 (a cameo by Amitabh Bachchan). 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 restaurant.

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 course comprises the instructor David Fischer, a Mexican nanny named Eva, a Pakistani cab driver named Salman Khan, a Chinese hairstylist named Yu Song, a Tamil software engineer named Ramamurthy, a closeted African-Caribbean man named Udumbke, and also Laurent. Shashi quickly becomes a promising and committed student, earns everyone's respect with her charming behavior and cuisine, and gains self-confidence. Laurent becomes attracted to Shashi, leading to some interpersonal drama.

Meanwhile, Shashi's niece Radha who is Meera's younger sister finds out about her private 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 the 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 Fischer 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 of being married and having a family, describing the family as a safe space of love and respect where weaknesses are not mocked. Satish and Sapna regret treating her with disrespect. Fischer declares that she has passed the course with distinction and issues her the certificate. Shashi thanks Laurent for making her feel better about herself. Shashi and her family return to India.

## Cast

* Sridevi as Shashi Godbole
* Adil Hussain as Satish Godbole, Shashi's husband
* Mehdi Nebbou as Laurent, Shashi's classmate
* Navika Kotia as Sapna, Shashi's daughter
* Shivansh Kotia as Sagar, Shashi's son
* Priya Anand as Radha, Shashi's niece
* Sujata Kumar as Manu, Shashi's sister
* Cory Hibbs as David Fischer
* Ruth Aguilar as Eva
* Sumeet Vyas as Salman Khan
* Rajeev Ravindranathan as Ramamurthy
* Damian Thompson as Udumbke
* Maria Romano as Yu Son
* Neelu Sodhi as Meera
* 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 teacher at school Cameo appearances
* Ajith Kumar as a passenger on the flight (Tamil version)
* Amitabh Bachchan as a passenger on the flight

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack and background music were composed by Amit Trivedi and the lyrics were written by Swanand Kirkire for the Hindi version, Pa. Vijay for the Tamil and Krishna Chaitanya for the Telugu versions respectively. The album comprises six songs including a male and a female version of the title track "English Vinglish". Both the versions of the soundtrack was released on 1 September 2012, in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.

 Released
 Recorded
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### Tracklist

All lyrics are written by Swanand Kirkire; all music is composed by Amit Trivedi.

Tamil
 Total length:

All lyrics are written by Krishna Chaitanya; all music is composed by Amit Trivedi.

Telugu
 Total length:

### Critical reception

Professional ratings
 IBNLive

IBNlive.in rated the soundtrack 3.5/5, stating, "Although the 'English Vinglish' album lacks the lustre of new-age Bollywood albums, it manages to leave the listener smiling with its simple approach. There are no remixes and nothing out-of-the-box here, but it delights." BBC reviewed the soundtrack as "Having delivered hit albums like Ishaqzaade, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu and Dev D, Trivedi proves here that he's a talent unafraid of experimenting. He stands on the verge of big success." Glamsham rated 3.5/5 for the album. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama rated 3 out of 5 stars stating, "The music of English Vinglish does well in creating added perception about the film and only lends further weight to this Sridevi starrer. It won't be wrong to say that the soundtrack does its job of exciting a listener to check out what the film is about. Though most of the songs are situational, which means their shelf life would be restricted till the film's run in theatres, none associated with English Vinglish can be expected to mind that as this Amit Trivedi and Swanand Kirkire soundtrack ensures that there are many forward steps taken here."

BollywoodLife rated 3 out of 5 stars stating, "The music is situational and an integral part of the movie. *English Vinglish* is sweet-sheet, cool-shool, and fun-vun! Give it a listen!" Koimoi rated 3 out of 5 stars "Overall, the album's music is good with varied shades of emotions that include colors of celebration and 'Masti.' Despite lacking a commercial chartbuster, the album still does well in holding your attention with Swanand Kirkire's lyrics aptly supporting compositions by Amit Trivedi." BizAsia live rated the album 8 out of 10 statings, "Director Shinde has made several correct decisions to deliver English Vinglish for her first movie. Apart from the story angle and choosing Sridevi as the leading lady, believing in the talent of Trivedi and Kirkire is the biggest blessing for her. For a niche and offbeat non-commercial project like this, the soundtrack should not have been commercial either to match the movie's overall feel. Trivedi once again stamps his innovative genius all over this six-track album with a great contribution to the vocals. Rao and Chauhan are the other two superstars for this female lead movie. The music might not deliver well on the international music charts, but if one has an ear for good music, this is a must-buy album with a global sound. *Navrai Maajhi*, *English Vinglish*, and *Dhak Dhuk* are the picks to sample great talent, variety, and maturity in Indian music."

Music Aloud rated the album 7/10, stating, "Not in the same league as Ishaqzaade or his Coke Studio episode, but a neat score from Amit Trivedi, led from the front by *Gustakh Dil* and *Dhak Dhuk*." Milliblog reviewed it as a Competent soundtrack from Amit Trivedi

## Release

### Screenings at international film festivals

In July 2012, *English Vinglish* was selected by the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and scheduled for a world premiere at the coveted Galas section of the festival. Sridevi's comeback made it a highly anticipated film and all shows at TIFF sold out during advance booking. The premiere took place at the Roy Thomson Auditorium on 14 September and was attended by Sridevi, Mehdi Nebbou, R. Balki, Gauri Shinde and other members of the cast and crew. At the end of the premiere, the full-house audience gave a 10-minute standing ovation.

After the Toronto premiere, some international media outlets hailed Sridevi as the "Meryl Streep of India". Two weeks later, America's entertainment weekly *Variety* wrote in its review of *English Vinglish* that it found Sridevi "[d]isarmingly charming in a manner that recalls Audrey Hepburn." *English Vinglish* was selected to be showcased in December 2012 at the Marrakech International Film Festival; it was screened to an audience of around 15,000 viewers and was attended by Sridevi, Shinde, Balki and Nebbou.

In February 2013, *English Vinglish* was screened at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival as part of Indo-German Film Week. Shinde conducted a screenwriting workshop and spoke about the film and women's rights in India.

The film had its US premiere at the 36th Portland International Film Festival. Writer and critic David D. Levine praised the film, saying "[t]hough it's not a musical, strictly speaking, there's quite a bit of music and dance, and the film is laugh-out-loud funny and heart-rending by turns ... My favorite film of this PIFF. Five stars out of five." In April 2013, *English Vinglish* was selected to play at the third Beijing International Film Festival and the International Film Festival of Panama. In May the same year, it won the 'Best Visiting Artist' award at the San Diego Film Festival. Andrew Friedenberg, director of the Cinema Society of San Diego announced that *English Vinglish* "dominated the voting".

### Indian premiere

Sridevi at the premiere of *English Vinglish*
The Indian premiere of *English Vinglish* was held on 4 October 2012 and was one of the biggest premieres of that year It was organised as a red carpet event to celebrate Sridevi's return to filmmaking, and some famous Bollywood personalities attended, including Directors Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Rajkumar Hirani and Ashutosh Gowariker and actors Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha Basu, Tabu, Shilpa Shetty, Konkona Sen Sharma, Madhuri Dixit, Ayesha Takia, Kangana Ranaut and Javed Akhtar.

### Theatrical release

It was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board. After Eros International's efforts to release the film on 21 September 2012, *English Vinglish* had its worldwide theatrical release on 5 October 2012. The Hindi version was released across 739 screens, while the Tamil and Telugu versions were released on 110 and 47 screens respectively. It was released in over 250 screens overseas.[*citation needed*]

### World television premiere

On 29 December 2012 *English Vinglish* saw one of the biggest world television premieres on Zee Cinema. The premiere was conducted as a high-profile event, and Zee TV arranged a special press conference attended by Sridevi and Gauri Shinde. To publicise the premiere, the channel launched a free English-speaking module telephone service using IVRS, which was a success with over 25,000 calls from across India in less than a week. *English Vinglish*-styled signs, including 'Exit-Vexit', 'Coffee Voffee' and 'Switch off Mobile-Vobile', were posted at 900 touch-points in cafes, malls, multiplexes and airports. Zee Cinema formed partnerships with Cafe Coffee Day, Inox, Fame, Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Globus and Westside to market the premiere. Mohan Gopinath, business head of Zee Cinema said, "More than two generations of India have worshiped Sridevi. Add to that an extremely simple yet heart-warming narrative, some spot-on direction by Gauri Shinde, Balki's unmistakable touch and you have a winner on your hands.