English Vinglish is a much awaited film through which veteran actress Sridevi makes her re-entry in to the Indian film industry after a gap of 15 years.
It is surprisingly a simple yet heart warming story of a housewife who finds courage to come over a shortcoming. The film begins with the morning ritual of a middle class house where the mother gets up and does her chores cooking every one's favourite breakfast but not finding time to take a sip of her own coffee. Her teen age daughter jeers at her lack of English and embarrasses her in the socially awkward situations they get in to. Her husband doesn't really appreciate anything other than her cooking skills and subtly puts her down on certain occasions. She gets a chance to visit her sister's family in New york. The humiliation she faces from a rude waitress at New york when she tries to order a lunch opens the floodgates, that is when she resolves to get over this shortcoming at any cost. The rest of the film is about her journey to find self confidence, appreciation and respect. Beautifully narrated, this story will make you silently cheer her through her battle and happily applaud her final triumph.
Sridevi obviously steals the limelight. She plays the role perfectly, calibrating her looks, costumes, body language and dialogue delivery to perfection. Dressed in gorgeous sarees, she inspires charm and grace. Her performance assures her that she has not lost any of her acting genius. The other characters are overshadowed by her presence, but most manage to do a decent job.
The film is not without flaws. The story line is predictable with no surprises. The dialogues in most places lack wit and intelligence. Even the presence of Amitabh in a short sequence is terribly wasted. There were many occasions for some awesome one-liners but the director had not bothered. Stereotyping in the form of a feminine looking gay professor, idli loving Tamil guy add to the boredom.
Despite the flaws,the debutant director had to be congratulated for giving us a wholly entertaining film where she proves that human emotions can give enough drama for an interesting film and that violence, gore and skin baring are not necessary for commercial success.
Sridevi obviously steals the limelight. She plays the role perfectly, calibrating her looks, costumes, body language and dialogue delivery to perfection. Dressed in gorgeous sarees, she inspires charm and grace. Her performance assures her that she has not lost any of her acting genius. The other characters are overshadowed by her presence, but most manage to do a decent job.
The film is not without flaws. The story line is predictable with no surprises. The dialogues in most places lack wit and intelligence. Even the presence of Amitabh in a short sequence is terribly wasted. There were many occasions for some awesome one-liners but the director had not bothered. Stereotyping in the form of a feminine looking gay professor, idli loving Tamil guy add to the boredom.
Despite the flaws,the debutant director had to be congratulated for giving us a wholly entertaining film where she proves that human emotions can give enough drama for an interesting film and that violence, gore and skin baring are not necessary for commercial success.
