First of all, thank you English Vinglish for bringing back that warm and fuzzy smile on my face. Many a scene seems revisited yet in a feel good way. The characters have been sketched well, just enough to remind us that good movies can be made from the smallest nuances of life than from gigantic ideas. Notting Hill fans like me often remember the first time we saw the movie, we just wanted it to go on and on, at least a bit longer. Well Guari Shinde's directorial debut just gave me the same great feeling. And yes, it does send a message across to those who with their 'english-elitism', mock at people who are unable to speak the language. And Sridevi, hats off ma'm, you were so damn wonderful with the right portions of vulnerability, command, and quiet strength, delivering a performance that is nothing short of perfect.

Five minutes into the film, and she's already found her way into your heart as Shashi, the uncomplaining Maharashtrian housewife who quietly puts up with the playful but insensitive jibes her husband and kids take at her, for her inability to speak proper English. It's such a terrific performance in fact, that it makes you overlook the rather trite notion that a caring wife and mother, who runs a small but successful catering business from home, must speak fluent English in order to regain her sense of self-worth. The movie takes a twist when she has to go to Newyork all alone for her niece's wedding and how she manages to join the english class and regains her self worth by speaking English in front of her family becomes the rest of the plot.

Shinde succeeds in making a genuine and empathetic film. It’s set around a very real-world issue: where a wife and mother is loved yet taken for granted. Where she’s hurt unintentionally, although knowingly too at times. Where demands are placed on her, but rarely are her expectations met. The story of one woman’s quest to find an identity beyond the yummy laddoos she makes, of discovering life away from home and family, of getting to love herself and gain respect from those around her—is told with warmth, lightness and subtlety. There’s no rabidness, extremism, jerk, break, or a major turnaround. Instead, it’s all about a gentle renegotiation of relations, conducted perfectly in tune with the movie’s tenor. A few scenes tip over into the excessive and cutesy, there is a bit of the Mind Your Language kind of broad humour, but it never strays very far from its simple, heartwarming core.