A perfect satire on our education system

Hindi Medium Direction: Saket Chaudhary Actors: Irrfan Khan, Saba Kamar, Deepak Dobriyal Rating:

Iwill fire candle every Sunday in church.” Raj Batra’s (Irrfan Khan) clumsy English prompts an uneasy laugh. This is a man struggling to fit into a class struc- ture designed to keep him out. He’s stuck in a circle of aspiration, humiliation and rebound, and yet he takes it in good spirit.

Raj owns a clothing store in Old Delhi that he calls a fashion studio; he calls himself a ‘local tycoon’. He’s gone from the proverbial rags to riches but seems comfortable in his own skin.

His wife Meeta (Saba Qamar), though, is determined to break into the Delhi ‘gentry’. She thinks moving to posh south Delhi will give her family’s income and ambition some validation. The Batras then decide to get their daughter Priya into a reputed school, because what better way to become ‘included’. Their story is so relatable that it tugs at your heartstrings even while making you laugh.

Hindi Medium is director Saket Chaudhary’s third film (after Pyaar Ke Side Effects in 2006 and Shaadi Ke Side Effects in 2014). Through all three, he retains his firm grip on offbeat comedy and his ability to render Delhi and Delhiwallas with accuracy. This is evident from the first scene, in which Khan tries to convince the viral vlogger Mallika Dua, in a brief cameo, to buy a Manish Malhotra replica from his ‘studio’.

In Irrfan, Chaudhary finds the perfect lead. Hindi Medium exposes the absurdities involved in trying to get your child into a “famous” school in the Capital. The ride becomes even more joyous when Sham Prakash (Deepak Dobriyal) enters the game as a daily-wage earner battling his own odds at the other end of the social spectrum. As he begins to lose his battles, Dobriyal becomes haunting in his misery.

And Hindi Medium takes a turn; it’s just not funny any more. It forces us to acknowledge the absurdity of the struggle for what it is — capitalism at its worst — and it forces the audience to face the impact of this on the urban school student. A little preachy and melodramatic at the end, it is nonetheless a strong film.