When the brilliant Adil Hussain playing the thankless role of Sridevi’s subconsciously sexist spouse Satish in Gauri Shinde’s still-brilliant still-lifechanging English Vinglish, ridicules his wife for being good at only one thing(making laddoos) he wasn’t deliberately insulting her, firstly for the very elementary fact that Satish can’t make laddoos even if he tried. Secondly, for all his smirky comments, Satish is not a toxic husband. He cares for Shashi.
The wifey jokes are part of his patriarchal DNA. He doesn’t mean to be cruel. Viewing English Vinglish again for the umpteenth time, we had an opportunity to notice the dazzling supporting cast for Sridevi’s central performance: Adil of course, and the incredibly charming Mehdi Nebbou as Laurent, the man Shashi meets and befriends on the streets of New York.
That fact that Nebbou was quite taken up with India’s most endearing brand product since the Number 0, helped him look so convincing in his silent suitor’s role. In fact, ironically, the only actor who doesn’t quite fit in is Amitabh Bachchan. As the talkative co-passenger Shashi meets on her long flight to NY, Mr Bachchan gets to be the only intrusive element in Gauri Shinde’s otherwise flawless screenplay.
Mr Bachchan had previously stated that he did the cameo for the sake of Gauri Shinde and her husband R Balki (known for his penchant to make space for Mr. Bachchan in every film) and that he was just bowled over by his co-passenger in the seat. .