The Queen Is Back.

What happens to a legendary heroine, who once ruled over Indian cinema, when she takes a 14-year break from the silver screen?

Absolutely nothing. And that is what English Vinglish is here to prove. English Vinglish, is the story of Sashi, an Indian housewife, mistreated by her family due to her lack of knowledge in English, whose journey to New York gives her a lesson both in life and in English. The story is an exact honest portrayal of The Indian Wife, and the hardships she faces on a daily basis, within her own small world, and kudos to Gauri Shinde for scripting such an original character. The story, in itself, is a complete fuzzbucket, a warm family entertainer, with completely no dampeners, and with the rise of variety in cinema, it has turned rare today, to find such complete family films.

Sridevi, is simply wonderful. It is on her back that this film rides, and she puts most of today's actors to complete shame with such an amazing comeback performance. Yet again, it is another movie that captivates you, simply because of being a powerhouse of performances. The cast - Mehdi Nabou, as the French admirer of Sashi, Adil Hussain, as the husband, Sulabha Deshpande as the mother-in-law, Sujatha Kumar as the sister, Priya Anand as Sashi's lovely niece, Navika Kotia, as the ignorant daughter, Shivansh Kotia as the sweet son, Rajeev Raveendhran as the funny Tamilian Rama, each and every member of the cast deserve mention as they have performed their roles to the optimum. While Laxman Utekar's cinematography and Amit Trivedi's music aren't exactly extraordinary, Hemanti Sarkar's taut editing keeps the movie to a crisp, enjoyable runtime.

While the Tamil version is nevertheless a dub of the Hindi one, it is Ajith's cameo that brings you the Tamil cinema feel. Ajith, is simply marvelous in his guest performance, in his short screen time, he still manages to make deep impact.

Gauri Shinde, has brought to screen a wonderful film, and she's struck gold with her debut. R.Balki, must be one happy producer, and one happy husband. Sridevi makes you laugh, she makes you cry and she carries you along with her, in this warm story, which is definitely worth a watch.

Aditya Baskaran