Throughout the
film English Vinglish, Shashi, the Protagonist, undergoes a radical change in both
her demeanor as well as how others perceive her. Gauri Shinde uses a variety of
thematic elements to portray this change both overtly (through Shashi’s actions
and words) as well as through less obvious stylistic choices. In my paper, I
will analyze several of these filmatic elements and demonstrate how Shinde
weaves in these components to highlight the transformation of Shashi from a
meek, subservient housewife to a strong and independent woman. Specifically, I
will analyze certain camera angles and shots as well as the color scheme of
Shashi’s clothing and assess how Shinde uses these elements to depict the
trajectory of Shashi’s character arc.
From
the very onset of the movie, Shashi is shown doing typical housewife tasks—she
cooks, she cleans, she makes chai for her husband, she prepares food for the
children. In showing all of these tasks that Shashi is doing, Shinde chooses to
use a close up camera shot, refusing to show Shashi’s face for the first few
minutes and focusing only on what she is doing. By doing so, Shinde amplifies
the domesticated nature of Shashi; Shashi is not first introduced to us as a
physical being and an emotional human, but rather is initially defined based on
what she does for her family.
These close up
shots further magnify the importance of these tasks to Shashi’s life. By
choosing to fill the entirety of the screen simply with Shashi doing
domesticated tasks, Shinde suggests in turn that these tasks fill the entirety
of Shashi’s life. Indeed, this feeling of Shashi’s domesticated nature is confirmed
when we actually get to know her daily life and routine, which consist
primarily of the things she is doing in these opening shots. Moreover, in the
opening scenes, Shinde also utilizes a recurring and interesting shot to
filmatically depict Shashi’s domesticated nature. Over and over again, Shashi
is filmed through bars, as if she is caged by the life she is living. Through
these shots that Shinde chooses to utilize, we get the sense that Shashi is
confined by her lifestyle; that she exists primarily as a housewife, like an
animal living in a cage seeking only to please its master. This is a stark
contrast when Shashi visits New York, where all the shots of her are wide
angled and open, signifying the change in status and attitude of Shashi from
caged and dependent to free and self-sufficient.
Shinde further
uses the color of Shashi’s sari’s to match her demeanor, carefully selecting
clothing that reflects her internal emotions. Initially, while in India, Shashi
almost exclusively wears dull-colored saris: grey, dull orange, maroon, and
brown adorn her body at all times. This is consistent with her demeanor at the
time; Shashi’s uninteresting color scheme parallels her unremarkable life. In
contrast, when Shashi travels to America and begins to learn English, the color
of her clothing noticeably changes. Instead of wearing dull colored saris,
Shashi now wears hot pink, bright baby blue, yellow, and green saris. We see a
new confidence in Shashi when she is in New York, and this is reflected
outwardly both in her attitude as well as her appearance.
By
utilizing specific shots and camera angles in the beginning of the film, Shinde
is able to cement the impression of Shashi as the typical India housewife; as
these shots change throughout the movie, Shashi’s demeanor, too, radically
changes, until she becomes a strong and independent woman, and her character
arc is finally complete. Her dress color, too, very clearly mirrors this change
in her psyche, with dull and uninteresting colors being replaced by bright,
vivid saris, signifying the death of Shashi’s domestication and her rebirth as
a new woman.
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