English Vinglish (2012)

Shashi Godbole is a housewife who makes and sells laddoos as a home-run business. Her husband Satish, and daughter, Sapna 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 loves her as she is, and her mother-in-law offers her words of sympathy.

Shashi's older sister Manu, who lives in New York, invites Shashi's family to her daughter Meera's wedding to Kevin. 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. During her flight to America, Shashi is given inspirational advice by a fellow passenger. While Shashi is in New York, she has a traumatic experience at a coffee shop due to her inability to communicate. 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; Eva, a Mexican nanny; Salman Khan, a Pakistani cab driver; Yu Son, a Chinese hairstylist; Ramamurthy, a Tamil software engineer; Udumbke, a young African-Caribbean man; and Laurent, a French chef. Shashi quickly becomes a promising and committed student, earns everyone's respect with her charming behaviour and her cuisine, and gains self-confidence. Laurent becomes attracted to Shashi, causing some tension.

Meanwhile, Shashi's niece and Meera's sister, Radha (Priya Anand) finds out about her secret English classes and is supportive of her pursuit. Shashi starts watching English films at night and doing 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. 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.