English Vinglish, 2012 at Excell Cinema

English Vinglish, 2012 an Indian drama film directed by Gauri Shinde and produced by R. Balki in Hindi and Tamil is now screened at Excell Cinema, Excell World, 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.

The film revolves around housewife Shashi Godbole, who enrols in an English language course to please her husband and family. Shinde wanted her characters to be rooted and so they decided that the family will be Marathi and the film was shot in Pune. Sridevi's character is inspired by Gauri's mother. English Vinglish was also dubbed in Telugu and released simultaneously along with the Hindi and Tamil versions. Before its official worldwide release, English Vinglish had a gala premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, where the film and Sridevi's performance received a standing ovation.

Shashi (Sridevi) is a middle-aged Maharashtrian housewife who earns her money by making sumptuous snacks and selling them to the connoisseurs. She is a dedicated yet taken-for-granted homemaker who is ridiculed for her poor English skills by their English-speaking family. Sashi finds herself being an object of constant potshots by her husband (Adil Hussain), who has little respect for her real talent and her 7th grade daughter Sapna who feels ashamed to even introduce her mother to her school folks.

When an underestimated and belittled Shashi flies off to New York to lend a helping hand at her niece's wedding, she sees an advertisement on a bus, grabs the opportunity to enrol herself into English speaking classes that promise to teach the language within four weeks.

In no time, Sashi becomes the most committed student in her class, 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.

In the midst of her literary pursuit, she also finds her classmate cum friend - a Frenchman (Mehdi Nebbou) getting attracted to her plain simple personality. Yet, despite several barriers that come her way, Shashi achieves her goal which could be an inspiration to many aspiring English learners.

The movie ends with Shashi giving a speech (in English) at the wedding and stunning all by finally passing the test which her English tutor had set.