A quiet, sweet tempered housewife endures small slights from her well-educated husband and daughter every day because of her inability to speak and understand English.
The story of a quiet, sweet tempered housewife who endures small slights from her well educated husband and daughter everyday because of her inability to speak and understand English. She is resourceful and open-minded but somehow these traits don't get noticed by them. Then one day on a trip to visit her sister in Manhattan she decides to enroll in an English Learners class and meets a host of new people who teach her to value herself beyond the narrow perspective of her family.—Paroma
A woman who does not know English is made to feel insecure by her family and society at large. Circumstances make her determined to overcome this insecurity, master the language, and teach the world a lesson on the way to becoming a self assured and confident woman.
Shashi Godbole (Sridevi) is a housewife who makes and sells Laddoos as a home-run business. Her husband Satish, (Adil Hussain) and daughter, Sapna (Navika Kotia) take her for granted, mock her poor English skills, and generally treat her with disrespect, making Shashi feel negative and insecure. However, her young son, Sagar (Shivansh Kotia) loves her as she is, and her mother-in-law (Sulabha Deshpande) offers her words of sympathy.
After Shashi sends her kids to school and Satish to work, she goes by herself to deliver her Laddoos to her customer's homes. The customers love Shashi's Laddoos. Satish is not very supportive of Shashi's work and believes that it is a hobby and not a serious business. Shashi saves the money she earns from her Laddoo business.
Satish is not able to attend Sapna's PTA and asks Shashi to attend instead. Shashi meets Sapna's class teacher Father Vincent (Ashvin Mathew). Shashi asks Vincent to speak in Hindi as her English is not very good. Later, Sapna is livid with Shashi for embarrassing her in front of her teachers and friends.
Shashi's older sister Manu (Sujatha Kumar), who lives in New York, invites Shashi's family to her daughter Meera's (Neeju Sodhi) wedding to Kevin (Ross Nathan). It is decided that Shashi will go to New York alone to help Manu organize the wedding, and her husband and children will join her as the wedding approaches.
Shashi shops for her trip, while Satish works on her visa. Shashi decides to take her savings with her to New York. Shashi is not happy leaving her kids behind, but her mother-in-law promises to take care of them. Shashi is to stay in US for 5 weeks. At the airport, Shashi converts her savings into dollars. Shashi is not allowed to take her food items on the flight.
During her flight to America, Shashi is given inspirational advice by a fellow passenger (Amitabh Bachchan). The passenger helps Shashi to learn how to operate herself in the flight and helps her with the meal choices.At US immigration, Shashi gets really flustered by the rapid questioning of the official, despite being tutored by Satish. The passenger sees all this and tells Shashi not to be afraid of foreigners. He says that time has come for the world to learn about India and not the other way around.
Upon her arrival in New York, Shashi is warmly welcomed by Manu and her younger daughter, Radha. Manu's husband Anil passed away 10 years ago. Manu now lives and independent life and runs a business. Manu credits Anil for making her self-sufficient.Radha takes Shashi to Manhattan and together they visit all the tourist spots.
While Shashi is in New York, Manu has to go to work, so Radha takes Shashi to her college and asks her to wait at a cafe while she attends her 2-hour class.Shashi has a traumatic experience at a coffee shop due to her inability to communicate in English. The woman at the order counter berates Shashi for taking too much time, and not being able to read the menu. Shashi then has trouble getting the money from her purse to pay her bill. After that she is so flustered that she runs into another customer and makes him spill all of his food and causes a mess. Shashi runs out of the shop and cries uncontrollably at the humiliation.She is comforted by fellow customer, French chef Laurent, who himself is weak in English.
Using the money, she made from selling Laddoo's she secretly enrolls in a conversational English class that offers to teach the language in four weeks, showing her resourcefulness at navigating an unfamiliar city alone.
The class comprises: David Fischer, the instructor (Cory Hibbs); Eva, a Mexican nanny (Ruth Aguilar); Salman Khan, a Pakistani cab driver (Sumeet Vyas); Yu Son, a Chinese hairstylist (Maria Romano); Ramamurthy, a Tamil software engineer (Rajeev Ravindranathan); Udumbke, a young African-Caribbean man (Damian Thompson); and Laurent, a French chef (Mehdi Nebbou).
Shashi quickly becomes a promising and committed student, earns everyone's respect with her charming behavior and her cuisine, and gains self-confidence. Laurent becomes attracted to Shashi. When he tries to kiss her at the rooftop of a building, Shashi pushes him away and runs off but fails to explain that she is married.
Meanwhile, Shashi's niece Radha (Priya Anand) who is Meera's younger sister finds out about her secret English classes and is supportive of her pursuit. Shashi starts watching English films at night and does her homework assiduously. To complete the English-speaking course and get a certificate, each student must write and deliver a 5-minute speech. Shashi's family joins her in New York earlier than expected.After missing out on an event where Sagar injures his leg, Shashi eventually decides to quit because of scheduling conflicts and the fact that she considers herself to be an irresponsible mother since she did not realize that Sagar was injured.Shashi tries to continue attending class, but decides to quit because of schedule conflicts, and asks Radha to inform David Fischer. The test date coincides with that of the wedding, and Shashi is forced to miss the test.
Radha invites David and the entire class to the wedding, where Shashi's husband Satish is taken aback at being introduced to a diverse group of people by his wife. Shashi gives a touching and enlightening toast to the married couple in English, surprising everyone who knew her as a typical, conservative, Indian housewife. In her speech, Shashi extols the virtues being married and having a family, describing the family as a safe space of love and respect where weaknesses are not mocked. Shashi's husband and daughter regret treating her with disrespect. Her teacher David declares that she has passed the course with distinction and issues her the certificate.
Shashi thanks Laurent for "making her feel better about herself". Shashi's family return to India; during their flight home, Shashi asks the flight attendant in fluent English whether she has any Hindi newspapers in Hindi version.
