No, you do not see Sridevi acting in this movie; she simply ‘lives’ her role. In this movie, she delightfully and graciously plays the role of Shashi Godbole, a middle class housewife, who is not given the respect she is ought to get simply because of the fact that English is an unfamiliar language to her. She then takes a determined decision to master the language, if not for anything else, at least so that she could earn the respect of her family members, all of this, without the knowledge of her family members and in a completely new land, New York!
On screen, while Shashi Godbole is full of activity while learning the English language, we learn a lot from her life too. She stands for, very efficiently, the women belonging to that category of housewives who are often made fun of even among their family members over the dining table when she articulates ‘jazz dance’ as ‘jhaaz dance’. She symbolizes those women whose daughters are mortified to take them to school for the PTA, fearing a humiliation by those who find their mother’s English speaking skills hilarious. Moreover, she corresponds to that category of women whose husbands, in the name of a gag, forthright state that they were born for making laddoos. Every tear that she drops on screen and every disgraceful situation she is put into make us feel badly for her. No, this is not a superhero film. Yet, every little triumph that Shashi makes in the course of learning the language brings in a sense of hope and satisfaction, much like it is an achievement of our own.
There is this ‘Yipee’ mood in your heart when you see Shashi making an order in a restaurant in English, when few days previously, she was shown up for not knowing how to make a proper order. Not to forget, that fulfilling reaction of yours when Shashi stands up to give a heart melting speech (In English, obvious!) on the occasion of her niece’s wedding ceremony. This is also not a movie that takes in hand matters like terrorism or corruption, yet it successfully oozes into our hearts and souls, leaving us in awe, even after the duration of the movie.
Kudos to the director, Gauri Shinde, for such a seamless characterization of Shahsi (No, I will not call it Sridevi’s character. As I said earlier, she lived the role). The 49 year old , on the other hand has ascertained yet again that no matter how many artificially dazzling and chic fresh faces turn out to become flourishing heroines, when she’s on screen, she endlessly rings a bell in your mind that she was, is and will always bear the crown (Hard to believe she’s 49, isn’t it?) A must watch, it is for sure, but what it makes it more special is the experience of watching it with your family. In the course of the movie, you take in the fact that the ones sitting next to you, are by far, the dearest folks in your life. This movie is indeed one for the mothers, sisters, wives and girlfriends, and a strong lesson for their male counterparts.
When Shashi says, ‘Why India not ‘The’ India and why America ‘The’ United states of America’? in an innocent and yet stern , it invoked an emotional appeal and applause in the audience which sums up the acting prowess of the veteran actress Sri Devi
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