Sridevi: The female Rajnikanth in Japan

Not since Rajnikanth has an Indian actor made the impact that Sridevi has in Japan, thanks to a preview and festival screening of English Vinglish...and the film has not even been released there as yet! Apparently the theme of an Asian woman struggling with the English language has struck a universal code in Japan. And the Japanese women, themselves driven to despair by the linguistic discrepancies of the diaspora, have embraced the film in a big way. Now they want to meet Sridevi before the film gets a Japanese release in December (2013). Speaking from Tokyo where he is currently visiting to launch the film producer R Balki said, “The response is terrific. Every Japanese woman identifies with Sridevi. The Japanese love the film. Anyone and everyone who has seen it has connected immediately with the theme of linguistic barricading.” On Sunday evening English Vinglish was screened in Tokyo’s Aichi Women’s Film Festival. And now the film gets an all-Japan commercial release. Says Balki excitedly, “We are planning a very wide Japanese release. The distributors in Japan think this is the first Indian after the films of Rajnikanth that the Japanese will connect with in such a huge way.” Balki says English Vinglish would get the biggest release ever in Japan for an Indian film, even bigger than the films of Rajnikanth which are a craze in Japan. “We are planning a major release here in Japan. It would be the biggest ever release in Japan for any Indian film.” Such is the demand in Japan to meet Sridevi that the producer Eros Entertainment plan to take the actress to Tokyo and other cities later this year. Says Balki, “The Japanese identify with all the linguistic insecurities of Sridevi’s character Sashi. If you cut away at the spice and chillies in our food, we are exactly the same as the Japanese .” Balki says the demand to meet Sridevi in Japan is deafening. “Gauri (English Vinglish director Gauri Shinde) and Sridevi have become very popular here. The word on the film in Japan is very strong. Sridevi must come to Japan.”