Yes, a debut in any profession is quite a difficult proposition but a comeback is even trickier, particularly if you have left your career after reigning like a queen! That must have been the peculiar predicament faced by Sridevi when she signed for English Vinglish with a new director at the helm. The spunky South Indian actress had been away from silver screen for more than fifteen years and had watched from a distance the fizzled comeback attempt by Madhuri Dixit, the lady who had once replaced her at the top.

So what is the experience like after watching this ex- No.1 in action in her comeback vehicle? How does Sri fare in her bid to woo the audiences back?

What’s the plot?

Shashi (Sridevi) is a homemaker. Her entire world revolves around her husband, two kids and mother-in-law. Looking after their every need is her daily routine and running a small business of home-made laddoos her only passion. Thanks to her inability to converse well in English, she considers herself unequal to her successful husband and faces constant derision from her teenaged daughter.

For helping out in her niece’s marriage preparations, she reluctantly leaves her home and lands in New York. Once again, finding herself unable to communicate well with people around her, she secretly enrolls into an English-speaking class. Now learning English in company with people coming from different cultures and countries, she starts to look at herself in a new light. What changes will this English-Vinglish learning experience bring in her life?

What’s hot?

·Sridevi delivers a masterly performance, making you wonder why she stayed away for so long!

·Debutante Gauri Shinde’s writing and direction are both top-notch.

·The situations and characters are contemporary and relatable.

·Light-hearted and yet tenderly sensitive treatment.

What’s not?

·Weak music fails to fulfill the cinematic needs.

·Some hangover of the famous TV-series Mind Your Language.

·Not the typical crowd-pleasing type of a film. (Of course, this is just a shortcoming in the box-office equation!)

Verdict

First-time writer-director Gauri Shinde has confidently presented a heartwarming tale of a woman trying to find her own identity. It sensitively probes a seemingly contented homemaker’s disturbed psyche and presents in unerring detail the modern-day challenges faced by a dedicated housewife to find her own place in the family. Here, the protagonist’s hurt is not about her inability to speak English per say but the way her own people take her for granted without appreciating her individual strengths. Her quest to learn to English is more out of her need to be accepted by her own people on her own terms.

This film is a perfect comeback vehicle being a ‘Sab kuchh heroine’-centric one and how well Sridevi drives it. This performance is far cry from her heyday sparkling roles like Chandni, Mr. India, Chaalbaaz and Lamhe, where she could rely on her bubbly youthful persona. The advanced age shows here but it doesn’t take away from her the ability to dazzle on screen. Her doe-eyes eloquently convey her vulnerability, her pain and her constant efforts to be accepted. Her occasional forays into dancing steps roll back years. And the melodramatic climax speech is a perfect icing on the cake! It is the best female performance of the year so far!

English-Vinglish is a film celebrating every dedicated homemaker who gives her all to keep her family glued together and often forgets her own existence in the process. ‘Find your own space and never let your own spark die within you’ is its uplifting message and it comes across glowingly well.