She doesn’t just dream about how her life should be – she is already pursuing a passion. (Besides, what are most fairy tales but templates for female empowerment sagas?) We may even be grateful that Shashi’s empowerment comes through in relatively subtle and sober ways, unlike say, Rekha’s transformation in Khoon Bhari Maang, where empowerment entailed supermodeldom enabled by bronze lipsticks and gold turbansīut Shashi is a rare woman. If this woman went to the US and enrolled herself in an English-language class and – in four weeks – learnt what takes the average child years to come to grips with, then we’d have on our hands a heartwarming empowerment saga, even if sounded like a fairy tale. She’s a housewife on a treadmill without a STOP button, and as someone educated in Saraswati Vidhyalay, where no one spoke English, she is subject to constant ridicule from the others, especially Sapna. She wakes up, ties her hair in a knot, makes coffee for herself and chai for the others, barely gets to scan the Navbharat Times before having to whip up different kinds of breakfast ( daliya for the mother-in-law, toast for the children, parathas for Satish). The rest of the family comes with S-names too: husband Satish, and kids Sagar and Sapna.) Like many women in our country (and many men too), Shashi is a creature of routine. (This is a movie that’s not afraid to be cute. In Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish, Sridevi plays a housewife named Shashi.
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