English Vinglish, a masterpiece directed by Gauri Shinde, is a phenomenal example of how a community can lead to growth in a person’s life. Shashi is one such character that shows us that a person can achieve anything they want regardless of their age, color, gender, race, education level, and social stature, as a person defines their own success.
Shashi as an Indian Housewife
An Indian housewife, a mother of two kids, and a devoted wife is an image that Shashi brings as the movie starts. A woman in a traditional Indian household is expected to serve her husband tea, prepare meals for her kids, take care of the house, and once again, cook, clean, and sleep. This is exactly what Shashi does in her daily life.
The only time she gets for herself goes into making ‘laddoos’ for sale. For that wonderful talent, the only praise she receives from her family is-“Ye toh laddoo banane ke liye hi paida hui thi!” [“She was born only to make laddoos!”]
And her only weakness, not knowing English, brought all kinds of insults and taunts from her own family, especially her elder child, a teenage daughter!
Here’s when Shashi found her tribe!
It so happens one day that Shashi has to go to NYC for her niece’s wedding despite all the-“Tum udhar kaise manage karogi?” (“How would you manage there?”), and “Tumhe toh Angrezi bhi nahi aati!” (“You don’t even know English!”) Little does the nervous and scared Shashi know what the trip had in store for her and how her life was going to take a turn!
When she arrives in New York City, she has a poor experience ordering food and coffee and is humiliated by a rude café employee. Shashi ends up bursting into tears and feels hurt.
As she is returning to her sister’s place, she sees a banner for an advertisement for English Learning Classes to learn English in just four weeks! At that very moment, Shashi decides to enroll in the English class, and joins it the very same day!
This classroom serves as a community for her, where she can interact with others who share her objective of learning a foreign language and come from diverse nations, social backgrounds, and age groups.
Shashi discovering her strengths as a part of the community
On her first day in the class, as she introduces herself, she comes to know that the very business that she was shamed for, by her family, was something so big, that she actually had a designation of an ‘entrepreneur’ for that! “Entrepreneur is someone who runs his or her own business. Shashi, you are an Entrepreneur.“
On the second day of her class, she asks a mere question “Why India, not the India? Why America the United States of America?” And guess how her friends react to that! All of them appreciated her for asking such a wonderful question by saying-“Good question Sashi!”, “So clever!”, “That was a very good question!”.
Her classmates gave her every support; they made her feel that she was no less and that she was a bright student and could do whatever she wanted, and that the sky had no limits.
The theme song clearly portrays her beautiful journey of learning:
“Teda lagta hai sab kuch yun
Acchha lagta hain phir bhi kyun
I’m trying vying dekho toh
I’m liking viking this that woh
Dheeme dheeme, slowly slowly, I’m learning vearning
Seekhun veekhun nai zubaan.“
One of the most heart-touching scenes in the movie is when the students discover that their teacher, David is gay, and is heartbroken by a recent break-up with his boyfriend. All the classmates support him and try to understand his feeling, as Shashi explains, “Salman, don’t say that. No making fun. We are all different from each other. For you, David Sir may not be ‘normal’. For David Sir, you may not be ‘normal’, but feelings are all the same, and pain is pain!”
In the same scene, when David sir suggests talking about feelings, Udumbke comes out to his fellow classmates, “I like this class. I come this class to listen English. I don’t talk much. I want to listen people talk. And, I also gay.” As he carefully utters these words, he carves this deep emotion of his love for the people he learns and grows with.
As the movie proceeds, getting busier with the wedding preparations, Shashi is unable to attend the classes. Radha, along with Laurent and other classmates, decides to help Sashi in attending the classes over call, making it easier for her to reach her goal! “Maasi, aap sirf laddoo banane ke liye paida nahi hui.”, says Radha as she hands over the call to Sashi.
Even when Sashi is unable to make it to the examination, Radha invites all her classmates and David Sir to the wedding. To her husband’s surprise, Satish introduces a bunch of unknown foreigners as ‘khaas dost‘(special friends)! At the wedding, Sashi not only gives her examination but also gives a wonderful speech at the wedding, in front of her family and all the guests! She also receives a distinction and passes with flying colors!
Shashi’s lines towards the end…
“Jab apne aapko pasand nahi karte hai na, toh apne se judi hui har cheez acchi nahi lagti. Nayi cheezein aakarshit karti hai. Jab apne aapko pyaar karne lagte hai, toh wohi purani zindagi nahi lagne lagti hai, acchi lagne lagti hai.”
(When you don’t like yourself, you tend to dislike everything associated with you. New things seem to be more attractive. But once you start loving yourself, the same old life begins to feel new and good.)
Really like the analogy here