English Vinglish (2012) on Netflix
Shashi Godbole makes and sells laddoos from her home in Pune, where her husband and daughter mock her English. In New York for her niece's wedding, she secretly joins an English course.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.8/1045,535 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Pune, Shashi Godbole runs a small business selling the laddoos she makes at home. Her husband Satish and their teenage daughter Sapna belittle her for her poor English and take her for granted, while her young son Sagar and her mother-in-law treat her with kindness. Her sister Manu, who lives in New York, invites the family to the wedding of her daughter Meera, and Shashi travels there alone five weeks early to help with the preparations. After a rude barista at a coffee shop humiliates her, a French chef named Laurent, who has the same trouble with the language, comforts her outside. Shashi takes money saved from her laddoo business and enrolls in a four-week conversational English course taught by David Fischer, joining classmates who have come from several countries.
Cast
- Shivansh Kotiaas Saagar Godbole
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about English Vinglish (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- English Vinglish began with the family of its director, Gauri Shinde: her mother was a Marathi-speaking woman who ran a pickle business from her house in Pune and was not fluent in English, which embarrassed Shinde as a child, and Shinde said she made the film to say sorry to her mother.
- Shinde said it was hard to find backing because investors disliked the idea of a middle-aged woman as the protagonist, and those who were interested wanted changes, such as a dance number, to capitalise on the hype around Sridevi, which she felt would not match her vision.
- Ajith Kumar performed his cameo appearance without receiving any payment, and even flew in for the shooting at his own cost.
- The film, and particularly Sridevi's character in it, was noted for inspiring Dalit girls in Bihar to master the English language.
- English Vinglish won all of the Best Debut Director awards of 2012 for Gauri Shinde, and was shortlisted as India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
