What is the movie about?
Shashi Godbole runs a successful home-based traditional sweets business but yearns to be respected by her husband and their teenage daughter who believe she is not good enough because she is not fluent in English. When Shashi visits her sister in the US, she enrols herself in a ‘Learn English in 4 weeks’ course so deal with what she perceives to be a harsh, English-speaking world. Through the course and with the support of people she meets, Shashi learns to love herself a little more and also reclaims the respect she deserves.
Who is it by?
Gauri Shinde is an advertising film maker and this is her debut feature film.
Why should I watch it?
In India, the derogatory, ‘vernac’ is often used to denote those who are more comfortable in their own vernacular language and not quite fluent in English. The movie captures with great sensitivity, the feelings of inferiority and inadequacy that such labelling evokes even within a family.
Shashi Godbole runs a successful home-based traditional sweets business but yearns to be respected by her husband and their teenage daughter who believe she is not good enough because she is not fluent in English. When Shashi visits her sister in the US, she enrols herself in a ‘Learn English in 4 weeks’ course so deal with what she perceives to be a harsh, English-speaking world. Through the course and with the support of people she meets, Shashi learns to love herself a little more and also reclaims the respect she deserves.
Who is it by?
Gauri Shinde is an advertising film maker and this is her debut feature film.
Why should I watch it?
In India, the derogatory, ‘vernac’ is often used to denote those who are more comfortable in their own vernacular language and not quite fluent in English. The movie captures with great sensitivity, the feelings of inferiority and inadequacy that such labelling evokes even within a family.
An edited version of the article was published in Culturama’s December 2012 Issue.
