English Vinglish is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Gauri Shinde. The film stars Sridevi as Shashi Godbole, a small entrepreneur who makes snacks and sweets. Shashi enrolls in an English-speaking course to stop her husband and daughter mocking her lack of English skills and gains self-respect in the process. Shashi was written by Shinde, inspired by her mother. The film marked Sridevi's return to filmmaking after a 15-year hiatus post Judaai (1997); it also features Adil Hussain, French actor Mehdi Nebbou, and Priya Anand. Amitabh Bachchan makes a cameo appearance in the flim’s Hindi version, whereas Ajith Kumar replaced him the same portions of the flim which was reshot for the Tamil-dubbed version.English Vinglish premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a 5-minute standing ovation Before its release, the film was screened for the Indian press and critics. The film was released theatrically on 5 October 2012. It received universal critical acclaim, with reviewers raving Shinde's direction and screenplay, Sridevi's performance as well as the film's soundtrack and cinematography. It became a major financial success as well, grossing ₹102 crore against a budget of ₹10 crore.English Vinglish won all of the Best Debut Director awards of 2012 for Gauri Shinde. It was shortlisted as India's official entry for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The film earned global acclaim at several international festivals and Sridevi was hailed as the "Meryl Streep of India" and the "female Rajinikanth".