English Vinglish

This is a very quiet movie that makes a huge impact on those who watch it. I love Bollywood movies and love that this was actually a heroine focused movie which isn't as common in Bollywood movies as it is in Hollywood movies.From the beginning we meet Shashi, who is a wife and mother of two children (girl and boy), she also makes ladoos and sells them to those around her neighborhood. I've never had ladoos, but I'm dying to try one now! Her husband is very dismissive of her and we see that when she mispronounces an English word, we also see this dismissiveness when she calls him to tell him how many ladoos she sold that day and he says he is busy and can't talk to her. From the title of the movie we can tell that Shashi has a problem with English. She must go to her daughter's PTA meeting and bumbs into a mother of her daughter's friend, who begins to talk to her in English. Shashi just nods her head and her daughter jumps into the conversation. This gives us a glimpse that she is not fluent in English and that her daughter is embarrassed by this fact. After the PTA meeting we see Shashi's daughter being rude to her for not knowing English and talking to her teacher in Hindi. It is heartbreaking to she Shashi start to cry a little on the ride back to the house. We can see how lonely she is and how her family pays her little respect. It seems her only joy comes from making her sweets which is her solace from her family.Then the call comes from Shashi's sister who lives in New York, to tell that her eldest daughter is getting married to an American. Her husband decides that Shashi will go a few weeks ahead of the family to help her sister with the preparations. Shashi is very upset with this decision since she does not know English or how to get around, but her husband doesn't seem too concerned that he is sending his wife to an entirley different country than her own. I admire that she does get on the plane to go to America, that takes a lot of courage to go to a country where you do not know the langugae. The scene on the plane, where Amitabh Bachchan is her seat mate, is extremely funny, as he translates the English movie to Hindi for her. Laugh out loud fun! When she gets to New York disaster is soon to follow when Shashi's niece takes her to a park to wait for her to get done with her classes for the day. Shashi deciedes to go to a cafe for some food. The cashier is rude and frustrated that Shashi doesn't speak English and the end result is Shashi without lunch and in tears on a bench.After this moment she decides to learn English and she enrolls in a four week course. She ends up having to get to the Language Center all by herself, and I admire that she was determined to do it. The scenes of her learning English with the other students is very sweet and funny, and I love the teacher who is very eccentric. There are some very sweet moments between Shashi and the other students as they all struggle to learn this complicated langugae. We can see Shashi becoming more and more confident as the classes go on, and she enjoys this new part of her life. But it is cut short when her family arrives early for the wedding and she is not able to go to the last couple of classes. After an important scene (I won't say what happens) she becomes very upset with herself for putting so much focus on her English lessons when that was not the reason for her being there. She feels that she has failed as a mother for forgetting her responsibilities. I won't give the rest of the movie away but it is beautiful.What I find wonderful about this movie is how many lessons can be learned from it. I think this movie encourages us to look at how we are treating those who are close to us. We are hurt when Shashi is put down by her family, and it makes us take a look at our own life and see who we may be putting down unecessarily. I think this movie also encourages us to do things we are scared of doing. Shashi is terrified by New York, and by learning English, but she does it and it gives her confidence to stand up for herself. As a native-English speaker this movie helped me realize that English is not easy to learn, and it is very hard to foriegners who are new to America. We see Shashi try to figure out how the langugae works, and we watch her struggle to get around New York and around with people who she cannot communicate with. It helped me realize that being in a completely different country and culture is extremely hard if you are not used to it.Sridevi had a spectacular performance for not having acted in 15 years. She is stunning as Shashi. The emotions she portrays break our hearts and make us smile as we watch her grow in this foriegn country. She is a brilliant actress who embodies her characters fully. This character was made for her.This is a non-traditional Bollywood movie but it is no less than those movies with dancing and singing. It it a beautiful story of a woman truely figuring herself out in this new world. It is one of those movies that everyone should see, not just those who love Bollywood movies. Please watch this spectacular movie!

I saw this film as a feature at the Berkshire International Film Festival in Pittsfield, Berkshire County, in Western Massachusetts and LOVED the film. When I love a film, I have to own it so I was thrilled to learn it is available on DVD and bought it at once from Amazon.com. It's a shame the film wasn't picked up in huge distribution but I am sure it will gain the fan club it deserves as people find it on DVD.The story is about an upper class charming Indian wife whose family takes her for granted in so many ways and shows little respect for her special qualities and talents and the day-to-day things she does for her husband and 2 young children. When her sister's daughter, who lives in New Jersey, announces she's getting married, the leading lady flies to America to spend 5 weeks helping her sister and niece get everything organized for this big Indian-American wedding.The funniest scene I have ever seen that takes place in an airplane is captured in 'English Vinglish!" You will never forget it. Just hysterical!The film is very funny but at the same time it's a poignant tale of how travelers experience the world when they enter strange territory without a command of the language in the foreign destination. The film is an insider's look at experiences of travelers who interface with those who are rude, impatient, unfriendly, and intolerant as well as those who are warm, welcoming, helpful, cooperative and perform random acts of kindness and friendship for people they will only interface with for moments or minutes.The experiences of the leading lady, a gorgeous and well-known actress in India who does a great job portraying the character, are the kinds of experiences all travelers have in foreign territory and great lessons in compassion and friendliness lie within the sub-story of the film.The characters from India speak Hindi and the lead character speaks almost no English. Her motivation to learn English during her 5 week stay in America is the nucleus around which her experiences evolve in the film.I think that the impatience of general audiences with reading subtitles may be one of the reason this film did not get picked up for major distribution. About 50% of the film is in Hindi with subtitles but even in those parts English is infused. The rest of the film is in English.Like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," this film deserves to reach a general audience and, like that film, provides insights into the cultural uniqueness of this family on both sides of the ocean.Since I bought the film, barely a month ago, I have viewed it 4 times when we've invited friends over for Movie and a Pizza Night at our house! Everyone has loved it and so was so pleased by our choice.I had the pleasure of meeting the two producers of the film at the Berkshire International Film Festival and was so happy to have the chance to talk about the film with them and to congratulate these two very young women on their achievement.Be sure you watch the film right through to the end of the credits as you'll see some impromptu dancing in the unexpected snow storm that hit NJ in October when they were about to film the wedding reception scene! We were told that they had to shovel the snow off the grass and try to dry the grass in order to keep their film schedule in tact. You might remember that freak snowstorm in October not that long ago!This film is a wonderful place to start a discussion on bullying (as the leading lady was bullied by her daughter and husband) and on welcoming and assisting strangers and newcomers to your community.Did I mention I loved this film?!

Definitely recommended. The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is because I personally think 5 stars should be an extraordinarily good film. This is certainly a good movie with lots of heart, a winning heroine and good character development, with insight into the frustrations of someone who is a non-native English speaker that I think would be useful for any other Americans out there like myself who speak only English. It just doesn't hae quite enough 'oomph' to push it into the 5 start category for me.SPOILERS:Cute movie about an Indian mother who was being mocked and treated cruelly by her family simply because she wasn't fluent in English. An extended trip to Manhattan allows her what is potentially her first real taste of freedom, and with that, an opportunity to improve her English, a source of shame and frustration in her life at this point, thru a "Learn English in ----" cram course. The rest of the film follows her struggles both to learn the language, but mostly her interactions with her classmates and family, and her personal decision if she wishes to continue the life she's always known or branch out into becoming an independent woman. And of course the conflict the return of her family bring to this internal debate.

j'ai adoré ce film, un beau message sur le partage, l'effort et le respect! sridevi et medhi sont juste épatants! et sridevi restera longtemps dans nos coeurs :(

Nice movieI always love this movie my all time favorite love you sridevi ji we all miss uNice movie picture and sound quality is goodThanks Amazon

you will love the character who has trouble with her English and the final outcome.

I'm not a fan of Bollywood films as I find them to be incoherent or void of a decent storyline, and the acting to be overly dramatic and often seeming ridiculous. However, I thought this film was very well acted and directed. The movie has a good pace and the story flows well. I've watched it loads of times and lent it to family and friends who have loved it too.

Lieferung erfolgte sehr schnell und in einwandfreiem Zustand.Film ist echt klasse, Sridevi hat sich mal wieder selbst übertroffen!Der Film rührt - wie so mancher indische Film - zu Tränen und am Ende gibts für fast alle ein Happy End.