

Instead, Shashi’s daughter makes fun of Shashi’s pronunciation of an English word, and her husband joins in on the joke. Despite all that she does, there isn’t any depiction of gratitude from her family members.

She makes four or five different dishes to suit the dietary requirements and taste buds of her husband, her kids, and her mother-in-law. When we first meet Shashi (played by Sridevi) in the opening credits of English Vinglish, she’s catering to the early morning needs of all of her family members. In this essay, I will argue that English Vinglish, unlike what most reviews said, doesn’t just peddle patriarchy, but also tries to push women to be better trained and learned only to serve their family. But far from being a film about a woman finding freedom through education and life-changing experiences, the film turns out to be a primer in new-age conformity for housewives in twenty-first-century India. Through the journey of a married, homely Indian woman’s quest to learn English after her circumstances force her to be alone in US for two weeks, we get to experience the unique challenges faced by someone who is not only linguistically limited, but also culturally inept at navigating the multicultural environment of New York (representing the outer world forbidden to women). English Vinglish (2012) was touted as a film furthering women’s causes with its portrayal of a married woman’s aspirations and her willingness to adapt to a dynamic world by learning English.
