Hindi Medium Passes With Distinction - Movie Review

`Hindi Medium’, if it happens for real must be the most amusing roller coaster ride for any family. It is unimaginable to think of a family moving from Old Delhi to Vasanth Vihar to a slum in Delhi, back to Vasant Vihar and finally back to reality.

Before we proceed further, `Hindi Medium’ is remake of a Malayalam film, and the heroine Mita is played by a Pakistani actress. I have no problem with either, especially Saba Qamar who looks a million bucks and a actress par excellence.

HM is a harsh story told well enough to not offend the sentiments of the upper middle class, that is so eager to see their children educated in any Tom, Dick (oh that word might offend someone), school which prefixes it name with Convent or International School. I know of a school in Bengaluru East which does not have enough space to even assemble all its students in the corridor but calls itself as an International School. Wonder what the education authorities are doing about it?

               

Parents have always an inferiority complex about their own backgrounds especially the schools they studied in, in this case Mita. Mita breaks into a hysteric dialogue everytime she has to explain what will happen if Pia does not get into an English Upmarket School. Her over protectiveness of Pia is comical to say the least.  Propelled by his wife, Raj (Irfan Khan) does everything to get his daughter Pia into an English School. They even move to the upmarket and snobby Vasant Vihar. Neha Dhupia in her role defines Vasant Vihar.

                The parents even engage a consultant played by Tillotama Shome . She says when she was introduced to the character; it was described as a "bit of a bitch". Tillotama Shome has portrayed her role more than a bit. Hers is one character which will remain in your mind long after you’ve forgotten many scenes of the movie, but remember its storyline. Image consultants have made criminals look like saviours in the recent past, but that is possible only when the conversation is one sided. However, in a school interview, it is two sided, and the couple of Irfan & Saba (Raj & Mita) get exposed, and Pia does not get the admission.

                This failure in the interview compels the couple to take a vacation in Europe at Bharat Nagar slums. Indian parents are always ready to sacrifice for their children’s education, they don’t mind faking as poor to get seats under RTE, and if required, to avoid being detected, ready to stay in a slum as well. Staying in a slum has its own perils but they are able to counter thanks to their friendly neighbours Shyam Prasad & his wife Tulsi. Both Irfan and Saba prove their acting credentials in the slum. First, they land up the seat and later lose it. Amrita Singh portrays the role of  principal of English Grammar School with a finesse that hides her villainy till the last scene.

                One scene which transcends the limits of creative freedom is when a SUV knocks down Shyam Prasad, stops and when threatened with police complaint, hands over 20k to Raj. Nobody is going to buy that scene.

                Thanks to a scam bust, Pia loses her seat. In a lucky draw, she gets it back, and as again expected, the Raj couple decide to surrender it. It is only then the villainy of Amrita Singh is revealed. Raj breaks into the school auditorium and makes an emotional speech on education in India, and accepting his guilt. Realism in the film is not lost, when the upper middle class present in the auditorium does not react to his emotional outburst, least their wards future is affected.

                Overall the film is a refreshing fare compared to BKD and such stuff. The entire starcast has done immense justice to their roles. I would give it a 4 star. It is a week since I saw the movie but tell you what Saba Qamar is a WMD, Woman Made Divinely

               

A Few Quotes From `Full Moon' by PG Wodehouse

The Master could have very well named this book as `Full Fun’. This must be one of the funniest works of PG Wodehouse, very difficult to pick the few good ones. I’m re-reading this book. This blog is written for Indiblogger’s Indispire edition number 171 on Favourite Authors

Unlike the rest of the female members of her family, who were tall and stately, Lady Herimone Wedge was short and dumpy and looked like a cook – in her softer moods, a cook well satisfied with her latest soufflé; when stirred to anger, a cook about to give notice; but always a cook of strong character. Neverthless for the eye of love is not affected by externals, it was with courtly devotion that her husband, avoiding the face cream, bent and kissed the top of her boudoir cap. They were a happy and united couple.

Colonel Wedge was exhibiting that slight sheepishness which comes to married men when the names of those whom they themselves esteem highly but of whom they are aware that their wives disapprove crop up in the course of conversation.

Fredie straightened his tie

`The boys generally seem to wish to hear my views’ he admitted modestly

`And I’ll bet they get their wish if you’re within a mile of th

The face that gazed from the picture was not that of a strictly handsome man. It was, indeed, that of one who would have had to receive a considerable number of bisques to make it worth his while to enter even the most minor of beauty contests. The nose was broad, the ears prominent, the chin prognathous. This might, in fact, have been the photograph of a kindly gorilla. Kindly, because even in this amateur snapshot one could discern the pleasant honest and geniality of the eyes.

                The body this face surmounted was very large and obviously a man of the finest muscle. The whole, in short, was what a female novelist of the Victorian era would have called a `magnificent ugly man’, and Freddie’s first feeling was a mild wonder that such a person should every have consented to have his photograph taken.

Ever since the tempestuous entry into his life of Prudence Garland, he had been feeling almost without interruption rather as one might imagine a leaf to feel when caught up and whirled about in an autumn gale. Bill’s was essentially a simple, orderly mind. Nature had intended him to be one of those men to whom love, when it comes, comes gently and gradually, progressing in easy stages from the first meeting in rigidly conventional circumstances to the decorous wedding with the ushers showing friends and relatives into the ringside pews. If ever there was a man born to be the morning-coated central figure in a wedding group photograph, it was William Galahad Lister.

The thoughtful soul who built the bar at Barribault’s Hotel constructed the upper half of its door of glass, so that young me about town, coming to slake their thirst, should be able to take a preliminary peeop into its interior and assure themselves that it contained none of their creditors.

Too often, in English country houses, dinner is apt to prove a dull and uninspiring meal. If the ruling classes of the Island kingdom have a fault, it is that they are inclined when at table to sit chomping their food in a glassy eyed silence, doing nothing to promote a feast of reason and a flow of soul. But to-night in the smaller of Blandings Castle’s two dining rooms, a very different not was stuck. One would not be going too far in describing the atmosphere at the board as one of rollicking gaiety.