Mita and Raj Batra, an affluent couple from Delhi's Chandni Chowk are grappling with getting their daughter admission into an English medium school But there is one big problem Their zubaan is Hindi, and the elitist snobs won't let the Hindi speaking hoi polloi fit in.
At the core the film deals with a very relevant subject of how language divides our society How angrezi speaking people in India are touted to be 'premium class while the Hindi-waale however illustrious or wealthy, are low-brow, or plain uncool.
Hindi Medium shines in two areas that most of our films often fall short of. As far as the story goes – good writing, and as far as comedy goes great timing Raj Irrfan has a flourishing clothes store in Chandni Chowk where he sells original copies of acclaimed designers.
while his wife Mithu Saba her name classily upgrades to Honey is struggling to angrezify their lifestyle so that their daughter Pia Dishita Sehgal gets enrolled in a high-flying English medium school They do everything they can move out of their ancestral home into a plush neighbourhood, abandon their desi swag for designer wear and switch from bhangra to angrezi beats.
Alas it doesn't cut it Plan B Apply in the gareeb quota move into a poor settlement with rags and rodents, and take gareebi ki training. Here, the couple meets Shyam Prakash (Deepak Dobriyal) who ironically teaches them a few lessons none that need language to comprehend Chaudhary gets the grammar of the subject right and spells out the emotions fluently.
The dialogues Amitosh Nagpal are perfectly pitched and interestingly, the humour rests on the hinge, never distracting from the centrepiece Of course Irrfan nails it with a class act playing a man torn between his simple, unpretentious upbringing and his new wannabe avatar.
Saba as the OTT dominating wife is sheer delight onscreen Dobriyal is superb and in some scenes, he leaves you teary-eyed The second half gets over-dramatic and the plot seems quite convenient taking ample liberties. The last chapter (climax) is stretched and predictable but in the end it drives home the point exposing the inadequacies and loopholes in our education system.