Movie Review: Hindi Medium

Name of the Movie	Hindi Medium
Starring	Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Dishita Sehgal
Director & Year of Release	Saket Chaudhary, 19th May 2017
Studio	T-Series, Maddock

CHECKLIST Rating: 4.5/5

Reviewer: Nourhechulie Rulho, BA Sociology 6th Semester, Tetso College

Watching movies for the purpose of entertainment alone is not enough for me, I prefer to watch those movies which reflect the conditions of our society and teach us moral and valuable lessons. This movie called ‘Hindi Medium’ is a perfect reflection of the condition and status of Government schools in India and how rich people end up grabbing the privileges for the poor and needy people.

“Hindi Medium” is a movie about a married couple named Raaj Batra (played by Irrfan Khan) and his wife- Meeta Batra (played by Saba Qamar) who wish for their daughter’s admission into one among the top five schools in Delhi. In order for their daughter (Piaa, played by Dishita Sehgal) to grow up and become a successful person, they not only change their residence but also their lifestyles. However, since neither Raaj nor Meeta are highly educated or to say they did not get education from private institutions, their daughter’s admission was denied in all the five top schools of Delhi. Raaj couldn’t bear to see his wife getting worried about their daughter’s future because of not being able to get admission in their desired school, therefore Raaj uses the two most common forms of cheating or fraud in India, that is, he goes to the extent of getting a letter of recommendation from a MLA to get admission but it did not worked, then he goes on for bribing one of the Principal which also ends up failing. Their only and last resort was to get their daughter into Delhi Grammar School (top school in Delhi) through reservation under the Right to Education (RTE) quota for poor people. They somehow managed to fill the forms and submit it under RTE reserve quota, however, unfortunately the school decided to send for an inspection to check whether the candidates are really poor or they are frauds. When they realize that they cannot undo what they have done, they come up with the idea of making themselves look poor by living among the poor people until the inspection is over. Thus, they moved into a small area inhabited by very poor people.

Raaj and Meeta moved into a new world along with their daughter to make the school think that they are poor. Their life is totally changed by the harshness they faced, problems like mosquitoes, rats, water and foods, etc becomes a big issue for them. During the time of inspection, the in-charge of the inspection begins to suspect that Raaj is not a poor person because of his clean and soft palm and compares his hand with a laborer’s hand. The person inspecting also catches the daughter eating pizza and bottled water which increases his suspicion, however, Shyam Prakash who was also trying to get his sons admission in the same school throughout RTE, intervenes and saves Raaj and his family. Shyam takes Raaj to the factory where he works and helps him to learn the life of poor labourers. During the second round of inspection, Raaj’s hands became rough and looked like a laborer’s hand. The story takes a huge turn when both Raaj and Shyam’s family learns that they need to submit twenty five thousand rupees during the time of admission for extracurricular activities. Mr. Shyam, who thinks that Raaj is very poor and will not be able to get that much money for his daughter’s admission, decides to throw himself into a running vehicle, making it look like an accident and in return took money from the vehicle owner and this trick worked for them.

Raaj’s daughter gets her admission through a lottery process, but unfortunate for Shyam that his son couldn’t get the seat so he decides to send his son into a government school. The most important message begins when Raaj and Meeta decide to do something good for at least one poor child who needed help for his/her education expenses. Their visit to the government school opens their eyes to see how even under pathetic circumstances, the students develop their talents yet are unable to showcase their talents. They change their decision from helping just one child to changing the entire school which would help every student there.  This decision changed the entire scenario of the school and improved its conditions for which each and every student as well as parents were grateful. Mr. Shyam, whose son was a student of that school wished to thank the person who was responsible for these changes and on his way to do that finds out the truth about Raaj and Meeta and also the truth that they have stolen the privilege of his son’s admission to Grammar School. He then decides to tell the truth to the Principal but on his way meets Piaa in school uniform, which stops him out of love. Raaj who realized his mistakes decides to confess to the Principal but it did not have any effect, so he goes onto the stage and confesses his wrong doing in front of all the students and parents and ends up withdrawing his daughter from that school.

Raaj and Meeta decide to send their daughter to that very government school.

Among many messages this movie gives us, the one message that I find very important is, if people send their children to government schools and look after its proper management and its overall administration then not only will government school be able to compete with private schools but also the poor and underprivileged children will be able to receive quality education at an affordable expenses.

CHECKLIST is a review column initiated by Tetso College that aims at giving students, reviewers and writers a platform to review and reflect upon books, movies, television shows, documentaries, magazines, restaurants and catering services, games, software, and product reviews. The reviews should be a reflective writing encompassing the writer’s opinions about the subject matter while avoiding unprecedented subjective bias. This is an unsponsored review column. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the Institution. Type your review in a Google Docs or MS Word document and email it to dottalks@tetsocollege.org.