Hindi Medium: Everyone has a different starting line from birth

What I will be talking about in the review essay is the 2017 Indian film "Hindi Medium". This is a typical realist film in which topics such as education  social class issues, rich and poor issues in India are discussed. The film tells realistic and heavy topics in a relaxed and funny way. If you want to get a glimpse of these issues, this film would be a good starting point.

The storyline of Hindi Medium

Raj and Mita is a middle-class couple in India. Raj runs a clothing store, which makes their family lead a prosperous life. However, the Raj family are not old money, they are only upstarts: Raj's English is very poor, and can almost only speak Hindi; Mita can speak English, but she is not a "lady". Mita hopes that their daughter Pia can enter the best English-taught private elementary school: Delhi Grammar School, so they must move to a wealthy area near the school to qualify for registration. And this is just the beginning. They need to fit into the upper social circle. They must speak Englishdress, and act as the upper class. For admission to the high quality private primary school, Pia must take many training courses. At the same time, in order for Pia to be accepted, Raj and Mata need to participate in parent interviews, so they also need to receive corresponding training. These are all new to them and make them feel uncomfortable.

However, Pia failed to pass the assessment to enter those English-taught private elementary schools. At this time, Raj found a special method: Delhi Grammar School will specifically provide opportunities for the poor children, and they can draw lots to get the opportunity to enroll, but they must provide corresponding documents to prove the kids' families are poor. Raj made fake documents and spent money to ensure that Pia drawn. But because a large number of rich dthe same thing as Raj did to steal the opportunities of the poor, the school will arrange for a family background check to verify the financial status of the applicant family. So, the Raj family had to move to a slum, pretending to be poor, socializing with the poor, working, and living like the poor, and pretending that they could not speak English at all. Although Pia finally got the opportunity to enter Delhi Grammar School, after a series of things happened, Raj and Mita decided to send Pia to a public elementary school.

“English is India”

What language do you think Indians should speak? English or Hindi? Raj told us "English is India" at the end of the movie. You are an Indian, and you are talking to another Indian people in the land of India, but you need to speak English, otherwise, you will be identified as a person from the lower-class.

In the movie, after moving to the wealthy area, Pia wants to play with a little boy, but the boy says that his mother does not allow him to play with Pia, because Pia speaks Hindi. Although the Raj family has moved to a wealthy area, the language they speak is stil. In India, English is not only a language, it is also a representative of the social class.

India was once a British colony, and English was the only official language of India. Until now, English has been a symbol of social status in India. The upper class communicates in English in their daily lives, the middle class makes their children work hard to learn English, and the lower class does not even understand English.

The class division of this language is cleverly expressed in the movie. The reason why Mita hopes that Pia can enter a school taught in English is precise, because only in this way can she receive elite education and become an elite of this country. If she goes to the Hindi-taught public elementary school, then Pia’s future will at best be a wealthy middle-class person like Raj and Mita, rather than a true upper-class person. When the Raj family came to the slum and pretended to be poor, the simple English that Mita could speak almost revealed their true identity. They have to pretend that they used to be rich, so they can speak English, but now they are bankrupt. People in the slums do not understand English and cannot speak English. Language is a social class barrier. This film vividly demonstrated this social class separation to the audience.

Where you were born determines your whole life

Another point reflected in the movie is that the social class division is almost unbreakable. Mita and Raj did their best to get Pia to receive training, they also participated in parent training, but they were still rejected by private English-taught primary schools. They have never studied English systematically, nor have they experienced the socialization process of the upper class. Although they are rich, they are still  They do not know how the upper-class dresses themselves; they only know to wear luxury goods. They do not know what the educational philosophy of the upper class is; they can only follow the arrangements and suggestions of their tutor from the education institution. They are qualified rich people, but not qualified upper class. After all, the socialization process they accepted took place in the Moon Market where they grew up. And this destined that no matter how hard they try, they can only be the middle class. They may be as rich as the upper class, but the education and etiquette training they receive will always be middle class.

But at least they still have money and can get the opportunity to give their daughter Pia an upper-class future. It is almost impossible for the children and families they met in the slums to complete the social class leap. They can get the opportunity to enter Delhi Grammar School, but the high expenditure on extracurricular activities is the first difficulty they would face. In addition, since they speak Hindi and their families cannot hold party activitiesof the same standard as other children's families in the school, they will gradually be isolated and eventually have to drop out of school.

The film exposes education and social class issues directly to the audience. Almost everyone has been decided for a lifetime when they are born. The poor are destined to be poor, even the study opportunity for poor children has also been stolen.

Children from Hindi-taught public schools gave a wonderful performance at Delhi Grammar School, and parents and teachers applauded them. However, after knowing their true identity, the parents and teachers were silent. When Raj said that the principal clearly knew that Pia was a child who had stolen the opportunity of a poor child, she did not expel Pia and believed that Pia could adapt to this school better than the poor children. She also said that Pia’s parents could also provide more help to the school than the poor. No one publicly expressed disgrace for the principal's behavior.

Although children in public schools can perform well, the upper class will still reject them because of their social status. There will be individuals  but there will be no classes who betray the class. Although Raj and Mita decided to send Pia to a Hindi-taught public elementary school eventually, the other upper-class children will continue to study in Delhi Grammar School and become Indian elites in the future. The children at the bottom, although very talented, can hardly cross the class divide after all. The film presents such problems, hoping to arouse social reflection.

Where is the future?

Where is the future? The son of a politician will become a politician. The daughter of a doctor will become a doctor. The children of the poor live in slums for generations. Is this the future we want? In the end, the movie tells us that every child is a hope for the future, and they all deserve a high-quality education. Their future direction should not be determined by their social classes. And the social class barrier constructed by language, hoping it can be broken one day.

The film exposes the education issues, class issues and the role played by language in Indian society to the audience. In my opinion, this is very commendable. It reflects on real-life issues and shows it in a way that is more acceptable to the general public, widespread public thinking.

The film brought us the problems in Indian society and also gave us a general direction to solve it.  is up to people to choose and write their own stories.