The ending of English Vinglish

A lot of people on this forum didn't like the ending of English Vinglish, so I thought of making a separate thread on it.

-- Did you guys find the ending predictable?

-- Did you feel that Shashi should have taken control of her life and taken the metaphor of learning English a step further and transformed her existence?

-- Her returning to her mundane life was problematic?

These points make me wonder whether the ending reinforced stereotypes and didn't give the chance for the character to breathe life into her surroundings.

Thoughts??

I felt it was a decent ending - predictable but fitting and ended at the right time without getting too preachy

She does return to her mundane life, but there was some realism to it. Not everyone wants to jump ship and start a whole new life from their existing one. Some people just want to gain more self-respect and respect from their near and dear ones, which is what she achieved. She was a doting mother and she probably loved that aspect of her life and did not want to alter that.

Who knows what all she goes on to achieve with her new found confidence and the respect of her family

I think its a good ending. She just wanted respect in her own family, nothing more.It wasnt a lesson hat she wanted to teach her family or something, she just wanted them to SEE her, which they did, bringing the four of them closer than they ever were❤️

Disliked it intensely.

I didn't particularly want her to start anew without the judgemental hubby and spoilt brat of a child.

But the undeserving family *seeing* her meant they saw she could speak in English and hold her own with others. Is that supposed to be the only measure of a person's worth? In the end, all 3 - Shashi, hubby, and child - apparently endorsed the idea.

She also said family was meant to be a safe space where weaknesses should not be mocked. That is true, but how about the reverse? Family is *formed* by bonds of respect and love. Not once family is formed, there should be respect and love.

It wasn't ideal, but it was realistic.

Throughout the movie Shashi is shown to be meek and conservative, she doesn't strike me as someone who throw her husband and kids and start a new life in her 40s. Also, she was kind and forgiving also (it was blasphemous to her that the French guy made advances towards her despite knowing she is married, yet she forgave him and invited him to the wedding. Also another instance where her son spoils the entire batch of laddoos which she painstakingly made - her husband hits the son, but she asks him to stop and doesn't scold her son. All this shows that she is a gentle and loving soul, not vindictive or angry).

Considering this is her personality, of course she would forgive her own daughter and husband. However, she is not the same woman, she knows her self-worth now - she has the intelligence and talent to learn a new language in a few weeks, she also gets validation that she's attractive what with the French guy swooning over her. All this boosts her confidence.

Towards the end both the husband and daughter are shown to be remorseful. However, if they go back to their old ways, I am sure Shashi won't be so meek and will give it back to them, while still not breaking the marriage.

Originally posted by: CrimeMasterToto

I felt it was a decent ending - predictable but fitting and ended at the right time without getting too preachy

She does return to her mundane life, but there was some realism to it. Not everyone wants to jump ship and start a whole new life from their existing one. Some people just want to gain more self-respect and respect from their near and dear ones, which is what she achieved. She was a doting mother and she probably loved that aspect of her life and did not want to alter that.

Who knows what all she goes on to achieve with her new found confidence and the respect of her family

@bold, If she was looking for validation from her husband and kid who don't respect her, then she never ever had self-respect.

I have a problem with the way Shashi let her husband and her daughter get away with everything. Even the ending does not seem to imply otherwise. So, yeah, the entire movie was problematic to me in that sense.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie.

Originally posted by: Harley_Quinn

@bold, If she was looking for validation from her husband and kid who don't respect her, then she never ever had self-respect.

100%. You said it better than I did. Ending was more about validation from hubby and child than about self-respect.

Originally posted by: Lord_Voldemort

It wasn't ideal, but it was realistic.

Throughout the movie Shashi is shown to be meek and conservative, she doesn't strike me as someone who throw her husband and kids and start a new life in her 40s. Also, she was kind and forgiving also (it was blasphemous to her that the French guy made advances towards her despite knowing she is married, yet she forgave him and invited him to the wedding. Also another instance where her son spoils the entire batch of laddoos which she painstakingly made - her husband hits the son, but she asks him to stop and doesn't scold her son. All this shows that she is a gentle and loving soul, not vindictive or angry).

Considering this is her personality, of course she would forgive her own daughter and husband. However, she is not the same woman, she knows her self-worth now - she has the intelligence and talent to learn a new language in a few weeks, she also gets validation that she's attractive what with the French guy swooning over her. All this boosts her confidence.

Towards the end both the husband and daughter are shown to be remorseful. However, if they go back to their old ways, I am sure Shashi won't be so meek and will give it back to them, while still not breaking the marriage.

My views exactly, but of course put forth more succinctly! 👍🏼

I don't remember the movie 🤣