This film pressed my buttons and made me MAD!!!! If the equivalent were made about a modern day black man who is demoted to a life of doing menial tasks because of lack of education; who then goes on a mission to win respect of those who are belittling him, the whole world would be up in arms at the racist implication. However, in this case, when such things are taken for granted, very few people can see the offence in it!
On the surface this film seems harmless enough but remove the cultural veneer and you will see that it is completely insulting to women. The main character is a spineless and timid housewife who cooks and cleans, runs the house and does a bit of freelance cooking on the side which her partner does not approve of. She is dominated by an overbearing husband who wants to keep her in her place, and bullied by a bratty, arrogant daughter who joins her father in his fun making of her mother due to her not being able to understand English. Then out of the blue, the opportunity to learn English is presented to her after going to the USA to attend a wedding. There she makes friends, is wooed by a French student and opens her mind to people all walks of life. Once the rest of her family arrive, she has to continue her English lessons in secret because her first and foremost duty is cooking, cleaning and attending to her husband and children and putting them before all else. The movie continually re-enforces that this is what Indian women are supposed to do and should be the sum total of the meaning of their lives.
I think the most insulting line of all in the entire film is said by a couple of fellow Indian students from the English class after the French student Laurent declares his undying love to Sridevi: "All women not French, this is Indian woman - show respect" – the implication being that, French and other women do not need to be shown respect because they are sexually promiscuous and can be easily won over by anyone who's interested, whereas all Indian women are in some way pure and unsullied and cannot be brought to the tarnished depths of Western culture. Really, that type of script is verging on racism surely!
The climax of this advertisement for Indian purity happens at the wedding where the housewife (who was tempted but did not stray of course), delivers a moving speech in broken English about respect simultaneously shaming her daughter and opening her self-centred husbands eyes to the idea that his wife is more than just a rice cooking baby machine.
The final scene shows that she is still his obedient wife because she gives him 'two Ladoos' thus proving that even though he treated her like a servant, she still maintains perfect loyalty because he is the 'man' of the house and her 'husband'.
Honestly, I cannot express my disappointment at what a heap of tripe the content of this film presents; it is insulting, patronising and perpetuates an outdated dogma that should have been over a long time ago. Please Gauri Shinde, do not insult Indian film-making with this flaccid offering of backward garbage; there are so many brilliant Indian movies out there that are real, gritty and do justice to the industry. If you have the facility and the ability, do something life-changing with it rather than this utter nonsense!
On the surface this film seems harmless enough but remove the cultural veneer and you will see that it is completely insulting to women. The main character is a spineless and timid housewife who cooks and cleans, runs the house and does a bit of freelance cooking on the side which her partner does not approve of. She is dominated by an overbearing husband who wants to keep her in her place, and bullied by a bratty, arrogant daughter who joins her father in his fun making of her mother due to her not being able to understand English. Then out of the blue, the opportunity to learn English is presented to her after going to the USA to attend a wedding. There she makes friends, is wooed by a French student and opens her mind to people all walks of life. Once the rest of her family arrive, she has to continue her English lessons in secret because her first and foremost duty is cooking, cleaning and attending to her husband and children and putting them before all else. The movie continually re-enforces that this is what Indian women are supposed to do and should be the sum total of the meaning of their lives.
I think the most insulting line of all in the entire film is said by a couple of fellow Indian students from the English class after the French student Laurent declares his undying love to Sridevi: "All women not French, this is Indian woman - show respect" – the implication being that, French and other women do not need to be shown respect because they are sexually promiscuous and can be easily won over by anyone who's interested, whereas all Indian women are in some way pure and unsullied and cannot be brought to the tarnished depths of Western culture. Really, that type of script is verging on racism surely!
The climax of this advertisement for Indian purity happens at the wedding where the housewife (who was tempted but did not stray of course), delivers a moving speech in broken English about respect simultaneously shaming her daughter and opening her self-centred husbands eyes to the idea that his wife is more than just a rice cooking baby machine.
The final scene shows that she is still his obedient wife because she gives him 'two Ladoos' thus proving that even though he treated her like a servant, she still maintains perfect loyalty because he is the 'man' of the house and her 'husband'.
Honestly, I cannot express my disappointment at what a heap of tripe the content of this film presents; it is insulting, patronising and perpetuates an outdated dogma that should have been over a long time ago. Please Gauri Shinde, do not insult Indian film-making with this flaccid offering of backward garbage; there are so many brilliant Indian movies out there that are real, gritty and do justice to the industry. If you have the facility and the ability, do something life-changing with it rather than this utter nonsense!