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English Vinglish
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gauri Shinde
Screenplay by	Gauri Shinde
Story by	Gauri Shinde
Produced by	Sunil Lulla R. Balki Rakesh Jhunjhunwala R. K. Damani
Starring	Sridevi Mehdi Nebbou Priya Anand Adil Hussain
Cinematography	Laxman Utekar
Edited by	Hemanti Sarkar
Music by	Amit Trivedi
Production company	Hope Productions
Distributed by	Eros International
Release dates	14 September 2012 (2012-09-14) (Toronto International Film Festival) 5 October 2012 (2012-10-05) (India)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	India
Languages	Hindi Tamil Telugu
Budget	₹15 crore (US$1.8 million)
Box office	₹61.50 crore (US$7.2 million)(four weeks international gross)

English Vinglish is a 2012 Indian comedy-drama film directed by Gauri Shinde and produced by R. Balki. It was made simultaneously in Hindi and Tamil and released on 5 October 2012. It was also dubbed in Telugu and released simultaneously along with the Hindi and Tamil versions.

Starring Sridevi in the lead role, the film marks her comeback to Bollywood after 14 years and to Tamil cinema after 26 years. The film also features French actor Mehdi Nebbou, Adil Hussain, and Priya Anand. Amitabh Bachchan and Ajith Kumar make guest appearances in the Hindi and Tamil versions respectively.

The film revolves around housewife Shashi Godbole, who enrolls in an English language course in order to please her husband and family. Shinde wanted her characters to be rooted and so they decided that the family will be Marathi, which is why the film was shot in Pune. Sridevi's character is inspired by Gauri's mother.

Before its official worldwide release, English Vinglish was premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where the film and Sridevi's performance received a standing ovation. Prior to its release, English Vinglish was screened for the Indian press and critics and one of the biggest premieres of 2012 was held for the film fraternity. It received near universal critical acclaim and several critics hailed it as a must watch film. The film was declared a Hit in India and also earned exceptional figures overseas. Box Office Capsule hailed the film and Sridevi's return as "Golden Comeback of the Queen."

Plot

Shashi (Sridevi) is a middle-aged Maharashtrian housewife who earns some money by making and selling sweet snacks (laddu). She is a dedicated homemaker who is taken for granted by her family. She is ridiculed for her poor English by her husband Satish (Adil Hussain) and teenage daughter. Shashi is the object of potshots by Satish, who has little respect for her real talent and Sapna, her 7 grade daughter who is ashamed to even introduce her mother to her school folks and teachers because her English is weak. However, her young son Sagar loves her as she is.

Shashi's sister, who lives in New York, invites Shashi's family to come to her daughter's wedding. It is decided that Shashi will go to New York alone to help her sister set up everything for the marriage. Her husband and kids will join her later when the wedding closes in. While Shashi is in New York helping at her niece's wedding, she secretly enrolls herself into a conversational English class that promises to teach the language in four weeks. The class comprises a Mexican nanny, a Pakistani cab driver, a Chinese hairstylist, a Tamil software engineer, a quiet angry African kid, and a soft-spoken French chef named Laurent (Mehdi Nebbou). Shashi quickly emerges as amongst the most promising and committed students in her class. In midst of all this, she also finds Laurent getting attracted to her because of her striking beauty.

Meanwhile, Shashi's niece finds out about her secret English classes and supports and helps her in her literary pursuit. Shashi starts watching English films at night and doing her homework religiously - all to polish her English reading and writing skills and more importantly to earn respect that she duly deserves from her family. To complete the English speaking course each of the student must take a final test, as announced by her teacher David Fischer. The test is a 5 minute speech that each student should prepare and deliver which will be judged by the tutor who will then issue the certificate. Shashi's family joins her in New York earlier than expected, as a surprise. This makes it difficult for Shashi to attend the classes and prepare for her final test. The test date coincides with the wedding date so she misses the test.

Shashi's niece invites her English teacher and all her friends at the English speaking class to the wedding. At the wedding, Shashi gives the speech (in English), more of a toast to the couple at the wedding and stuns everyone. The English tutor, who is present amongst the guests, declares that she has passed the test with distinction and issues her the certificate. Shashi's husband and daughter finally realize their mistake of mocking her lack of proficiency in English and taking her for granted. Shashi thanks Laurent for "making her feel better about herself". The movie ends with the Shashi's family returning to India. On the flight Shashi requests (in fluent English) if the stewardess has any Hindi newspapers.

Cast

Lead role

• Sridevi as Shashi Godbole
• Priya Anand as Radha
• Mehdi Nebbou as Laurent, a French cook
• Adil Hussain as Satish Godbole

Supporting cast

• Sujata Kumar
• Cory Hibbs as David Fischer, the teacher of the English Classes
• Rajeev Ravindranathan as P Ramamurthy, a Tamilian Software Engineer
• Sumeet Vyas as Salman Khan
• Ruth Aguilar as Eva, a South American Babysitter
• Damian Thomson as Udumbke
• Maria Romano as Yu Son, a Chinese hairdresser
• Neelu Sodhi as Meera
• Ross Nathan as Kevin
• Maria Pendolino as Jennifer
• Sulabha Deshpande as Mrs. Godbole
• Shivansh Kotia as Sagar, the son of Shashi

Guest appearances

• Ajith Kumar (in Tamil)
• Amitabh Bachchan (in Hindi)

Production

Development

In early 2011, it was reported that Sridevi would make a comeback with a film to be directed by ad filmmaker Gauri Shinde and produced by Gauri's husband R. Balki. It was said that Sridevi will play the protagonist in the role of a lady speaking English and the hilarious sequences that takes place in the process to learn the language forms the rest of the story. It was further reported that Amitabh Bachchan would play a cameo in the film and he shot with them for a day.

Owing to Sridevi's comeback after more than a decade, the film garnered much media interest. Amitabh's cameo, music by Amit Trivedi and Balki's track record have further added to the interest in the film. The film rights have been bought by Eros International for Rs. 20 crore.

The film marks the Bollywood debut of actress Priya Anand, whose previous work was in the Tamil and Telugu cinemas. It is also the directorial debut of Gauri Shinde. It was shot largely in New York. Balki also clarified that, other than Sridevi, all the actors in the film will be new. The principal photography concluded in October and the film was dubbed and released in Tamil and Telugu.

Promotion

The first look of English Vinglish was launched on 14 June 2012. The official distributor Eros International posted the first look video and poster on YouTube and Twitter. The two-minute teaser showed Sridevi reading out the Censor Certificate of the film in deliberate broken English according to her character Sashi in the film, who struggles with the language. The first look was received positively and praised for its unique and fresh concept. The full theatrical trailer was unveiled at a special media event on 13 August 2012 to coincide with Sridevi's birthday. The trailer met with a positive response and went viral on YouTube crossing one million views within a week of release. Sridevi's performance in the trailer was also highly acclaimed by her fans and the media with Hindustan Times reporting, "Sridevi casts a spell in English Vinglish." The Tamil and Telugu theatrical trailers were subsequently released at Chennai and Hyderabad respectively. Sridevi also appeared on Kaun Banega Crorepati with her director Gauri Shinde and on the dance show Jhalak Dikhla Ja.

Soundtrack

Tracklist

Hindi

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

Tamil

All lyrics are written by Pa. Vijay; all music is composed by Amit Trivedi

Telugu

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

Critical reception

Shresht Poddar, of Score Magazine, gave the album 4 out of 5 stars saying, "I can happily say that Amit Trivedi has composed an excellent album befitting Sridevi’s comeback venture. Despite lacking an out-and-out commercial track, the album manages to hold itself well - especially thanks to Swanand Kirkire’s amazing lyrics." Karthik from Milliblog has aptly said it is a "Competent vompetent soundtrack from Amit Trivedi." Digiblog gave it a very high score of 8 out of 10 saying "This one is a gem vem from Amit Trivedi. He shows us again that he is a genius venius." BizAsia also scored it 8 out of 10 calling it "a must-buy album with a global sound." BoxofficeIndia also gave the album a rating of 'Delightful'. Musicperk.com rated the album 7.5/10 calling it "An album with class".

Toronto International Film Festival

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

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 "Disarmingly charming in a manner that recalls Audrey Hepburn."

Indian Premiere

The Indian Premiere of English Vinglish was held on October 4 and was one of the biggest film premieres of 2012. It was organised as a Red Carpet event to celebrate the return of Sridevi to films after 15 years and some of the biggest names in Bollywood attended the event. Directors like Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Rajkumar Hirani and Ashutosh Gowariker came for the premiere along with 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.

Release

English Vinglish was released in India and worldwide on 5 October. In India It was released across 739 screens for Hindi version, 110 screens for Tamil version in Tamil Nadu and Telugu version released on 47 screens Andhra Pradesh and around 250 screens overseas.

Box Office

India

The movie opened with high critical acclaim and did well in multiplex screens and managed to earn 2.50 cr on its first day. Movie had a huge jump on Saturday making its the biggest Saturday growth in recent times and collection for the two days came to 6.75 cr. The Sunday figures were even better and the film ended its first weekend with 13 crore net. The film collected 28.5 crore in India at the end of its second weekend. The trade declared the film a Hit when it crossed the 30 crore mark domestically with combined collections from overseas. By end of its fourth week it has collected 40 crore approximately. The film was declared a Super-Hit in its fourth week.

Overseas

English vinglish had has collected around $3.8 million in 24 days in overseas. English Vinglish overseas collections was $1.65 million in first weekend. The film has collected around $3.5 million in 17 days. The movie collected a total of 17 crore ($3.2 million) in 10 days. The film got listed in the UK box office top 10, as of 13 October 2012 On the twelfth day of its box-office run, trade declared English Vinglish as a Hit overseas. The film performed exceptionally well overseas collecting figures unheard of for a heroine-oriented film. Worldwide gross collections at the end of its third week stood at 75 crores.

Reception after release

On release, the film and Sridevi's performance received positive response. Times of India gave the film 4/5 calling it "Easily one of the best films of 2012...Sri's performance is a masterclass for actors...Request you to make a little place next to you, Rajkumar Hirani; Gauri Shinde has taken a bow in mainstream Bollywood." Aniruddha Guha of Daily News and Analysis also gave the film 4/5 saying English Vinglish is "among the most refreshingly novel films made in recent times...If you're a Sridevi fan, you can't miss it. If you aren't, you still can't miss it." Another 4/5 came from Raja Sen of Rediff who found the film "a winner all the way...Sri excels in fleshing out her character." Taran Adarsh also scored it 4/5 calling it "a remarkable motion picture...A must-watch for every parent, every child. Strongly recommended!" Critic Subhash K Jha gave a 4.5 saying Sridevi "makes the contemporary actresses, even the coolest ones, look like jokes...If you watch only two films every year make sure you see "English Vinglish" twice!" Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave it 3.5 stars saying Sridevi delivers "a performance that is nothing short of perfect...It's warm and fuzzy, and leaves you with a big smile on your face." Anupama Chopra also gave it 3.5 calling English Vinglish "that rare thing...Sridevi doesn't miss a beat. Her performance is a triumph." Firstpost's Rubina Khan gave the film a full 5/5 saying "Sridevi brings acting back in English Vinglish." Komal Nahta said the film was 'beyond stars' applauded Sridevi saying she "makes the best comeback in Bollywood history and delivers a landmark performance." Social Movie Rating site MOZVO gave it 4.1 out of 5 putting it in Must Watch category. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, gave it 3/5 and wrote in his review, "An undemanding picture that goes down as well as the heroine's tasty laddoos". Kate taylor of The Globe and Mail gave it 2/4 and wrote in her review, "One wonders how long the neglectful Satish will remember the message of equality and gratitude if it is delivered as gently as this movie does." Amer Shoib of The Cinema Journal gave it 4/5 and called the film "a hilarious, touching, sensitive, and sweet film that marks the triumphant come back of India's biggest female star...Sridevi." Indian columnist Shobha De tweeted "Paresh Rawal and Sridevi - Actors of the Year! The rest are just successful stars!"

Impact

With the worldwide triumph of English Vinglish, Sridevi, most probably, became the only actress in Bollywood to make a successful comeback as a leading lady post marriage and a long hiatus. Box Office Capsule hailed the film and Sridevi's return as "Golden Comeback of the Queen." English Vinglish also made news for motivating Dalit girls in Bihar to master the English language inspired by Sridevi's character in the film.

References

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External links

• English Vinglish at IMDb

• 2012 films
• Indian films
• Hindi-language films
• Comedy-drama films
• Directorial debut films
• Tamil-language films