Hindi Medium

Plot

Raj Batra is a wealthy and successful boutique owner who lives in the traditional Old Delhi neighbourhood of Chandni Chowk with his wife, Meeta, and their five-year-old daughter, Pia. Despite their comfortable lifestyle, the couple is deeply eager to secure Pia's admission into an elite, prestigious English-medium school in Delhi, believing it is the only way she can gain entry into high society. They set their sights on Delhi Grammar School, the top-ranked institution in the city. To satisfy the school's strict residency requirement, they leave their home and move to a luxurious villa in the upscale Vasant Vihar neighbourhood. They hire an admission consultant, Saumya, to coach them through the sophisticated interview process, but due to Raj and Meeta’s limited command of the English language, Pia’s application is ultimately rejected.

Desperate for a solution, Raj learns from one of his shop employees that his child secured a seat at a top school through the Right to education (RTE) quota, a government initiative reserved for underprivileged families. After a local broker explains how wealthy parents systematically illegally exploit this system, Raj and Meeta decide to fake their economic status. They relocate to the impoverished neighbourhood of Bharat Nagar for a month, adapting to a life of poverty to clear a background verification check. There, they form a close bond with their new neighbours, Shyam Prakash and Tulsi Prakash, a truly struggling couple who are desperately hoping their own son, Mohan, will get into Delhi Grammar School under the same quota. Unaware of the deception, Shyam and Tulsi generously teach the Batras how to survive on a meagre income, and Shyam even helps Raj secure a low-wage factory job. When the lottery results are announced, Pia successfully gains admission, but Mohan’s application is tragically rejected.

The Batras immediately move back to their affluent life in Vasant Vihar. Burdened by heavy guilt over taking a seat from a deserving child, Raj secretly makes a massive anonymous financial donation to renovate Mohan's poorly funded government school, equipping it with modern facilities and new textbooks. As Mohan begins thriving and speaking fluent English at the upgraded school, a grateful Shyam sets out to track down the anonymous benefactor to thank them. His search leads him directly to the upscale Vasant Vihar villa, where he discovers Raj's true identity and the elaborate scam they pulled in the slums. Devastated by the betrayal, Shyam storms off to expose Raj's fraud to Delhi Grammar School's principal, Lodha Singhania.

Cast

Credits adapted from Bollywood Hungama:

Production

Made on a production budget of ₹14 crore, Hindi Medium was produced by Vijan of Maddock Films and Bhushan Kumar of T-Series. The film was directed by Chaudhary, his third after romantic comedy films Pyaar Ke Side Effects (2006) and Shaadi Ke Side Effects (2014). He came up with the idea of making a film about India's education system with his co-writer Zeenat Lakhani during the development of the latter film. They found the idea too extensive to include in Shaadi Ke Side Effects, so after its release, they decided to incorporate the idea into a separate film. Stating the reason to make Hindi Medium, Chaudhary said, "The subject is so relevant. We realised that today irrespective of the background of the parent, they still want to have the best education for the children."

Pre-production work began after the release of Shaadi Ke Side Effects. Chaudhary began working on the story at that time, and he chose Delhi as the film's key location. The production crew consisted primarily of people Chaudhary had worked with on Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Shaadi Ke Side Effects, with the exception of production designer Mustafa Stationwala—they are editor A. Sreekar Prasad; dialogue writer Amitosh Nagpal; and cinematographer Laxman Utekar. The score was composed by Amar Mohile.

On 29 May 2016, News18 reported the casting of Saba Qamar in the film, which marked her Bollywood debut. Khan had recommended the casting of Qamar to the makers of the film. He said, "When I saw her YouTube videos, I recommended her to the director and producer and they really liked her". Speaking about her role, Qamar said, "I play a person who didn't get an opportunity to fulfil her dreams so she comes up with a scheme about giving the daughter a life that she didn't have".

Khan commented that he had accepted the role as it tackled the realistic subject of the challenges of obtaining a good education in India.

Qamar arrived in Mumbai from Pakistan in July 2016, and the film's principal photography began in the same month. The film was shot in Chandni Chowk, Anand Lok, Karol Bagh, and Sangam Vihar. The shooting was completed in October 2016. A song sequence was also filmed in Georgia. Qamar commented that she enjoyed working with Khan, and felt safe while shooting in Delhi. In the same interview with Pakistani newspaper Dawn, she commented that her experience wasn't affected by the nationalist far-right political party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's hostility towards Pakistan at the time.

Soundtrack

Hindi Medium's soundtrack consists of two original compositions: "Hoor" and "Ek Jindari", which were produced by Sachin–Jigar. The songs were written by Priya Saraiya and Kumaar, whereas Atif Aslam and Taniskaa Sanghvi, rendered the vocals. In addition to the original tracks, the makers recreated two songs: "Suit Suit", written and sung by Guru Randhawa and Arjun and composed by Randhawa and Rajat Nagpal, and "Oh Ho Ho Ho", composed by Sukhbir and Abhijit Vaghani, sung by Sukhbir, rapped by Ikka Singh and written by Kumaar. The rights to the album of the film were acquired by T-Series, and it was released on 21 April 2017.

Release

The film was initially scheduled to release on 12 May 2017, but was pushed back a week, thereby clashing with Half Girlfriend, scheduled for release on the same date. Hindi Medium was declared 'tax-free' in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

In February 2018, following the success of Dangal (2016) and Secret Superstar (2017) in China, it was announced that Hindi Medium was to be released in China. Hindi Medium was released in China on 4 April 2018 to coincide with the Qingming Festival. The film's Chinese title is 起跑线 (Qi Pao Xian), which means The Starting Line.

Controversy

The makers of the Bengali film Ramdhanu (2014), directed by the duo Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee, had launched a copyright case against Hindi Medium, claiming that the storyline was similar to their film. In response to this, Chaudhary said "We have researched our script over a year and it is based on original material. I would request everyone involved to not rush to a judgement without ascertaining the facts. And the facts can easily be confirmed by watching the film." Roy and Mukherjee later withdrew their case.

Critical reception

Hindi Medium received a generally positive reception from critics, with particular praise for Khan's and Qamar's performances.

Rohit Bhatnagar of Deccan Chronicle called the film a "masterpiece" and praised Khan's and Qamar's acting. Rachit Gupta of Filmfare rated the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and said that it was a "refreshingly funny and brilliantly insightful film on parenting and education." Madhureeta Mukherjee of The Times of India highlighted the script, and the comedic elements of the film as its strengths. Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times giving 3.5 stars out of 5 stars, commented that "Khan asks the viewers to take a stand against faulty Indian education system". Samrudhi Ghosh of India Today gave 3 out of 5 stars, praising Khan's and Qamar's performances, said "Hindi Medium may use over-dramatised events to make its message hit home, but in spite of its hiccups, the film is not bogged down because of the performances and the humour". Smrity Sharma of India.com rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, and wrote: "Decent story, humour, a few heart tugging moments and effortless performances by Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar and Deepak Dobriyal make the movie watchable." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express giving 2 out of 5 stars, praised Khan's acting however felt that the writing was "flat", and that some of the supporting characters were "more caricature than real".

Hindi Medium received a generally positive reception from critics outside of India. A reviewer for Time Out gave it 4 out of 5 stars: "With all its merits, though, the film stumbles near the end with its overly sentimental conclusion." The reviewer concluded that "the film is one of the best Bollywood films". James Marsh of South China Morning Post rated it 3.5 stars out of 5 stars, calling it "a classical comedy of manners full of humour and playful performances". Sadaf Siddique of Dawn observed: "Chaudhary gets full marks for novelty, he fails to adequately flesh his ideas out".

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave 2.5 stars out of 5, commenting "Despite its shortcomings, the film is never unwatchable and benefits enormously from a winning performance by Irrfan Khan who makes his every moment on screen count. From his hilarious wooing of a mother-daughter pair of potential customers at his shop in the film's first half to his earnest amends on discovering his conscience late into the final act, he has you eating out of his palm. For Irrfan alone, Hindi Medium may be worth a watch."

Box office

The film emerged as a sleeper hit at the box office. Its worldwide gross was ₹1.09 billion (US$16.74 million) by July 2017. Within three days of its April 2018 release in China, Hindi Medium crossed ₹1 billion (US$14.62 million) at the Chinese box office, crossing the ₹2 billion (US$29.24 million) mark worldwide, becoming Khan's highest-grossing Hindi film, surpassing his 2013 release The Lunchbox. By 16 April 2018, Hindi Medium had crossed the ₹3 billion (US$43.87 million) mark worldwide, becoming one of the top 20 highest-grossing Indian films at the time.

Domestic

Hindi Medium collected ₹28.1 million (US$431,500.45) on its opening day. It released on the same day as the much bigger budget film, Half Girlfriend (2017), which earned ₹103 million (US$1.58 million) on the first day. Gradually, the film turned to be more successful than the former. After one week, the film grossed ₹252 million (US$3.87 million) at the box office. The film grossed ₹967 million (US$14.85 million) during its lifetime run in Indian theatres. It was one of 2017's top ten most commercially successful Hindi films in India.

Overseas

The film grossed ₹143 million (US$2.2 million) overseas in 2017. Following its April 2018 release in China, the film crossed ₹2 billion (US$29.24 million) overseas, becoming the seventh Indian film to cross the $30 million mark at the overseas box office. It also surpassed the overseas gross of 2018's highest-grossing Indian film Padmaavat.

China

On its opening day in China, on 4 April 2018, the film grossed ₹221 million (US$3.23 million). Hindi Medium surpassed Dangal (2016) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) to have the second highest opening day for an Indian film in China, behind only Secret Superstar (2018). The film's opening three-day gross was ₹1.02 billion (US$14.91 million).

The film's success is attributed to strong word-of-mouth, helped by a 9.1 rating at the Chinese ticketing website Maoyan, as well as Khan's recognition among Chinese audiences from international films such as Jurassic World, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Life of Pi. The film grossed ₹2.23 billion (US$32.61 million) during its lifetime run at the Chinese box office. This made it the fourth highest-grossing Indian film in China (after Dangal, Secret Superstar and Bajrangi Bhaijaan), until it was surpassed by the 2019 release of Andhadhun (2018) in China.

Awards

At the 63rd Filmfare Awards, the film garnered six nominations, winning for Best Film and Best Actor for Khan. Chaudhary won Best Director and Khan won for Best Actor at the 19th IIFA Awards. It received six nominations at the Zee Cine Awards.

Sequel

After the success of Hindi Medium, a sequel to the film was planned. Regarding the success of the film, producer Vijan told Mid-Day, "The response we have got is phenomenal. The entire unit of Hindi Medium, including Irrfan and Saba, who look cool as a couple on-screen, should be repeated in a film. There is definitely scope for a sequel. We would certainly explore it." On 24 January 2018, Vijan confirmed the sequel to Times Now. He said, "We have just finished typing the second part", with "Just finishing touches are being put", however, "I think you will have to wait for an official announcement for that."

On 30 March 2019, it was announced that Kareena Kapoor has been added to the cast of the sequel to play the role of a police officer and filming will start from April. On 5 April, the sequel's title was announced as Angrezi Medium and filming began in Udaipur. This was completed in July. On 17 February 2020, the film's release date was changed to 13 March 2020 from the earlier release date of 20 March. This film marked Irrfan Khan's final film before his death on 29 April 2020.