The movie English Vinglish, is as much about a middle-class family’s correlation of fluency in the English language as it is about self-esteem. Shashi Godbole is a caring mother, a devoted wife, a dutiful sister, and a doting aunt. However, some of her relationships are strained—a few people close to her seem to belittle her for her vulnerabilities, and are unable to look beyond them.
Watching English Vinglish, it is difficult not to
get apologetic pangs as memories of times when I felt embarrassed by my parents
come to mind. The film appropriately and succinctly captures the “growing pains”
felt by several families, where kids grow up in a new age India—one characterized
by economic growth and a liberal outlook, while parents and grandparents
struggle to come to terms with the new ‘Starbucks’ culture, having typically
grown up in joint families, often leading minimalist lives.
With that context, I wish
to examine three of Sashi’s close relationships: Sashi’s teenage daughter,
Sapna, is at an age where parents can do no right. Her husband, Satish, is
practical, encouraging, but also a little hesitant about Sashi’s abilities.
Very refreshingly, Sashi’s mother in-law is shown as an understanding, caring
lady, quite a departure from the commonly portrayed acrimonious mother in-law.
The filmmaker designed
the role of Sapna extremely thoughtfully, in my opinion. While Sapna clearly vents
her frustration with her mother’s lack of English-speaking abilities, and
chides her for offering her school teacher homemade chips, she isn’t shown as
being a ‘problem-child.’ Sapna is a good student, with her teachers and parents
of her friends complementing her alike. She genuinely asks her mother to
forgive her for behaving badly. And she excitedly bids Shashi goodbye at the
airport, telling her not to worry about the family. This subtlety in actually
developing Sapna’s role allows the viewer to understand that the crux of the
family’s problems are truly how the family members perceive Shashi in public.
Watching Sapna give her mother a fond hug at the end of the movie was a fitting
culmination of this journey for both women.
Shashi’s relationship
with her husband, Satish, is similar to that with Sapna. Satish undeniably
cares about Shashi, and is not demanding, overbearing or rude. He,
pragmatically, suggests Shashi go to New York earlier to help her sister
prepare for the upcoming wedding. However, the tension between the couple is
explored brilliantly in a scene at the mall, where Shashi, tongue-in-cheek, teases
Satish for comfortably hugging a lady from his office, but being too embarrassed
to hug his own wife in public. This scene reminded me of one from Namaste London, where Rishi Kapoor’s
wife tearfully tells him that simply by wearing western clothes (which she did
under pressure to seem ‘modern’), she hasn’t lost her Indian origin.
Shashi’s mother in-law is
the pressure valve of the family, Albeit only in a minor role, she appears in
the scene after Sapna’s PTA meeting, gently reassuring Shashi that several
mothers face such pressure while trying to maintain a connection with their
teenage children.
Overall, English Vinglish is both an enjoyable
and an informative film. I enjoyed watching it with my mother, and also with
the class.
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