Cast

Credited cast:
	Sridevi	...	Sridevi
	Priya Anand	...	Priya Anand
	Amitabh Bachchan	...	Amitabh Bachchan
	Ajith Kumar	...	Ajith Kumar
	Adil Hussain	...	Adil Hussain
	Mehdi Nebbou	...	Mehdi Nebbou
	Navika Kotia	...	Navika Kotia
	Shivansh Kotia	...	Shivansh Kotia
	María Romano	...	Maria Romano
	Sulabha	...	Sulabha

Storyline

Before its theatrical release, English Vinglish was premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where both the film and Sridevi\'s performance received positive response. Prior to its release, the film was screened for the Indian press and critics. It received critical acclaim and several critics hailed it as a \"must watch film\". Soon after its release, the film was declared a hit in India and overseas.



English Vinglish swept all the Best Debut Director awards of 2012 for Gauri Shinde. The film was also shortlisted as India\'s official entry for the Academy Awards in Best Foreign Language Film category. The film earned global acclaim at several international festivals across the world and Sridevi was hailed as the \'Meryl Streep of India\' and the \"female Rajinikanth in Japan\".



Shashi Godbole (Sridevi) is a housewife who makes and sells laddoos as a home-run business. Her husband Satish, (Adil Hussain) and daughter, Sapna (Navika Kotia) take her for granted, mock her poor English skills and generally treat her with disrespect, making Shashi feel negative and insecure. However, her young son, Sagar (Shivansh Kotia) loves her as she is, and her mother-in-law (Sulabha Deshpande) offers her words of sympathy.



Shashi\'s older sister Manu (Sujatha Kumar), who lives in New York, invites Shashi\'s family to her daughter Meera\'s (Neeju Sodhi) wedding to Kevin (Ross Nathan). It is decided that Shashi will go to New York alone to help Manu organize the wedding, and her husband and children will join her as the wedding approaches. During her flight to America, Shashi is given inspirational advice by a fellow passenger (Amitabh Bachchan). While Shashi is in New York, she has a traumatic experience at a coffee shop due to her inability to communicate in English. Using the money she made from selling laddoo\'s she secretly enrolls in a conversational English class that offers to teach the language in four weeks, showing her resourcefulness at navigating an unfamiliar city alone. The class comprises: David Fischer, the instructor (Cory Hibbs); Eva, a Mexican nanny (Ruth Aguilar); Salman Khan, a Pakistani cab driver (Sumeet Vyas); Yu Son, a Chinese hairstylist (Maria Romano); Ramamurthy, a Tamil software engineer (Rajeev Ravindranathan); Udumbke, a young African-Caribbean man (Damian Thompson); and Laurent, a French chef (Mehdi Nebbou). Shashi quickly becomes a promising and committed student, earns everyone\'s respect with her charming behavior and her cuisine, and gains self-confidence. Laurent becomes attracted to Shashi. When he tries to kiss her at the rooftop of a building, Shashi pushes him away and runs off, but fails to explain that she is married.



Meanwhile, Shashi\'s niece Radha (Priya Anand) who is Meera\'s younger sister finds out about her secret English classes and is supportive of her pursuit. Shashi starts watching English films at night and does her homework assiduously. To complete the English-speaking course and get a certificate, each student must write and deliver a 5-minute speech. Shashi\'s family joins her in New York earlier than expected. Shashi tries to continue attending class, but decides to quit because of schedule conflicts, and asks Radha to inform David Fischer. The test date coincides with that of the wedding, and Shashi is forced to miss the test.



Radha invites David and the entire class to the wedding, where Shashi\'s husband Satish is taken aback at being introduced to a diverse group of people by his wife. Shashi gives a touching and enlightening toast to the married couple in English, surprising everyone who knew her as a typical, conservative, Indian housewife. In her speech, Shashi extols the virtues being married and having a family, describing the family as a safe space of love and respect where weaknesses are not mocked. Shashi\'s husband and daughter regret treating her with disrespect. Her teacher David declares that she has passed the course with distinction and issues her the certificate. Shashi thanks Laurent for \"making her feel better about herself\". Shashi\'s family return to India; during their flight home, Shashi asks the flight attendant in fluent English whether she has any Hindi newspapers in Hindi version.



The story was inspired by Shinde\'s mother, a Marathi-speaking woman who ran a pickle business at her house in Pune. Her mother was not fluent in English, which embarrassed Shinde as a child. In an interview, Shinde said, \"I made this film to say sorry to my mother.\" The film started development in 2011 or earlier, and several plot points and cameo appearances were decided early on. The film garnered much media coverage because of Sridevi\'s comeback after nearly fifteen years away from film production. The film rights were sold to Eros International for INR200 million (US$3.1 million).



The film also marked the Bollywood debut of South Indian actress Priya Anand, who previously worked in the Tamil and Telugu film industries. It is also the directorial debut of Gauri Shinde, who previously worked as an advertisement filmmaker. It was shot mostly in New York. The principal photography concluded in October 2011 and the film was released in Hindi, along with versions dubbed in Tamil and Telugu.



Ajith Kumar being a big fan of Sri Devi performed the cameo appreance without receiving any payment. He even flew in for the shooting at his own cost.   

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