Is "English Vinglish" helping further womens' roles in the entertainment industry?

The role of Shashi played by actress Shridevi has created an empowered and respected character which is helping bring a new perspective on female roles in the film industry.

English Vinglish Official Poster

The movie I decided to watch for this assignment is called “English Vinglish”. It is a Hindi movie made in 2012 with the female lead being Shridevi. The dominant storyline of this movie follows the life of the female lead as she learns to become independent. The female lead, also known as Shashi, is a stay at home mom of two who also runs a small ladoo making business. She is depicted as a very traditional woman with almost little to no English knowledge, leading her family to treat her as though she is undereducated. As the movie goes on she finds out that her niece who lives in the States is getting married soon. Due to this her sister wants her to come to America to help with wedding planning. Although the whole family was invited, they asked Shashi to come early to help prepare. This means that she would have to go alone to America with minimal English speaking abilities. Although extremely nervous, Shashi agrees and is soon depicted traveling to meet her family in America. Upon arriving she spends time with her sister but since they still have daily lives, she is left to her own devices. Shashi decides to take a stop at a cafe while waiting for her younger niece to return from her college classes. At this cafe Shashi is treated horribly due to her lack of English skills and ends up going through an extremely traumatic experience. After such a scary experience, Shashi decides to take it upon herself to learn English and joins a four week English learning class by using the money she made through her ladoo business. Over the course of the next four weeks Shashi not only learns English in secret, but also learns to respect herself while making new friends along the way. Soon enough, the rest of the family comes over to America with the wedding underway. Due to this she is no longer able to go to class and is heartbroken. Through her younger niece’s idea she is able to attend class online but a final obstacle stands in the way, which is that her final exam is on the same day as the wedding. Although Shashi and her niece devise a plan, things don’t go as smoothly and Shashi ends up not taking her exam. Instead she stays and helps with the wedding. At the last minute she is asked to give a speech at her niece’s wedding and to everyone’s surprise is able to speak in English. In the end she learns a very important lesson which is that she must learn to love herself first in order to earn the respect of her loved ones. Overall this movie shows the journey of an ordinary woman as she stands up for herself for the first time.

Through this storyline I noticed there were many details that went against traditional Hollywood stereotypes. First is the placement of a powerful female lead without a need for a man to rely on. Another is the way the female lead was able to bond with other foreigners who, just like her, were trying to learn English. Starting with the concept of an imagined community which is a nation that is socially constructed by the people who perceive themselves as part of that community. This can be seen in the movie when all the students from the class start growing close and relying on one another to learn English as well as to survive in America. In this way they are accurately depicting what many foreigners go through when they first move to America, which is that most foreigners tend to stay among other POC since they can relate to each other’s experiences. This is also due to the stereotyping of most cultures, causing many POC to be treated differently as compared to their white counterparts. An example of this is when Shashi first comes to America and experiences first hand the differences between her and Americans. She finds herself being seen as uneducated when trying to order a coffee for herself. Throughout all of this she continues to try and maintain her relationship with her family. This is accurately depicted through her daily phone calls with her family as a way of maintaining transnational cultural connections due to the advanced technology that is available. Finally her role as the lead serves to create a positive representation of women, especially Indian women. Through the movie Shashi empowers herself and is given a dominant role. She is able to take matters into her own hands and learn English even when her family doesn’t believe in her. Finally there is an inclusion of other sexualities, one being gay individuals as seen through her teacher David as well as one of her classmates. This movie comments on sexuality and expresses that no matter what a person believes in we all feel the same emotions so we should support one another.

I believe this movie was extremely effective in accurately and positively promoting women as complex and powerful voices in society. The main character expresses her change in thinking as she progresses through the story and learns that she can also do anything if she puts her mind to it. She is given an opportunity to improve herself and independently makes the decision without having to rely on anything but her capabilities. Although the movie was quite effective there are still some limitations in terms of the accuracy and positivity shown in the movie. Starting with representation of the different types of sexuality, the movie really only has one token gay character. This is an example of tokenism which is the tendency to have a single character of a specific group in order to give an impression of inclusion. Although this gay character does show some representation, the character fits the very stereotypical dramatic and feminine version of what gay men are actually like. In this way the movie isn’t entirely accurate and does not give as much depth to the sexuality of the character as necessary. But, overall I would say that this movie does a pretty good job in challenging and reversing typical Hollywood stereotypes of women and other minority groups. In conclusion “English Vinglish” is worth a watch and definitely goes against the usual narrative of Indian women on TV.

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