Prospect of seeing Sridevi again is exciting - Balki: The unique (and brilliant!) trailer of English Vinglish

R. Balki Sridevi and her English Vinglish director Gauri Shinde will soon take centre stage to promote their film. 

Yes, it's going to be an all-women's show as the release date September 21 approaches for English Vinglish. 

After much deliberation, the film's producers R. Balki and Eros Entertainment have decided to stick to the original date and not get scared off by Kareena Kapoor and Heroine. 

Says Balki, "We believe every film, no matter what the gender of its protagonist, has its own audience. I am sure Madhur Bhandarkar's film will be very exciting. But the prospect of seeing Sridevi again is equally exciting." 

Having had his say, Balki will now move into the shadows. "Let the two ladies have their say. I have done what I had to. I'm just the film's producer. Now it's up to Sri and Gauri to take the film to the audience." 

Both Sridevi and Gauri Shinde are painfully shy of speaking in public. We believe their respective husbands have been giving them pep-talk at home as to how to field uncomfortable questions from the press and public. Interestingly, the Big B did a cameo absolutely free of cost for English Vinglish. 

Says Balki, "With Amitji, I wouldn't dare to discuss money." The trailer of English Vinglish where Sridevi is 'seen' (actually we only see her back for most of the trailer) trying to make sense of the censor certificate has got a mixed response from the audience. Says Balki, "We wanted the first trailer of Sridevi's comeback film to create questions in the audiences' mind. If audiences are wondering why Sri is attempting to read the censors' certificate, then we've succeeded in doing what we set out to. It's Sridevi coming back. That's not an ordinary happening. This is therefore not a routine trailer." 

How the trailer with Sridevi reading the censor certificate got past the censors is another story. Recounts Balki, "We first submitted the trailer with Sri reading a mock-certificate which had all the details from a real censor certificate including the CEO's signature. Then when the trailer was actually certified, we changed the mock-certificate with the real one and then we had to again submit the trailer with the real certificate. I don't think the censor board had ever come across such a situation." 

Balki feels the effort of submitting the trailer to twice to the CBFC has been worth it. "They have been very sporting about it. Considering we were asking them to bend the rules to accommodate our whimsical trailer, they took it in their stride." 

Published on Friday, 29 June 2012 10:55 Written by Kiran Arora