Hindi Medium

About the film

Hindi Medium is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Saket Chaudhary, and produced by Dinesh Vijan and Bhushan Kumar under their respective banners Maddock Films and T-Series. It stars Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Dishita Sehgal, Deepak Dobriyal and Amrita Singh. Set in Delhi, the plot centres on a couple's struggle to get their daughter admitted to a prestigious English-medium school in order to rise in society. It is a remake of the Bengali film Ramdhanu.

The idea for the film was created by Chaudhary and his co-writer Zeenat Lakhani during the development of his previous film Shaadi Ke Side Effects (2014). It was shot in Chandni Chowk, Anand Lok, Karol Bagh, and Sangam Vihar. The film's soundtrack album was composed by the duo Sachin–Jigar, with lyrics by Priya Saraiya and Kumaar. The score was composed by Amar Mohile. Cinematography was handled by Laxman Utekar, and A. Sreekar Prasad edited the film.

Plot

Raj Batra is a successful boutique owner who lives in the Old Delhi neighbourhood of Chandni Chowk with his wife Meeta and his 5-year-old daughter, Pia. The couple wants Pia to be admitted to a prestigious English-medium school in Delhi as they feel that this will enable her to become a part of the elite society. They decide on Delhi Grammar School, which is ranked the best in the city, but requires that students stay within a 3-km radius of the school. They move to a posh villa in New Delhi's upscale Vasant Vihar neighbourhood and try to become more refined in their manner. A consultant, Saumya, despite her misgivings about them, tutors them in the answers to be given in the admission interview, but their limited knowledge of English means Pia's application is rejected.

Raj and Meeta learn from an employee that his daughter has been admitted through the RTE quota, a scheme that helps children from poor families to be admitted to prestigious schools. After a scam reveals that rich parents have been misusing the quota to admit their children, they move to Bharat Nagar, a slum area, for a month and pretend to be poor. They strike a friendship with Shyam Prakash and Tulsi Prakash, who are hopeful that their son Mohan will get to study at Delhi Grammar School through the RTE quota. Shyam and Tulsi teach them to live like truly poor people, and Raj joins Shyam at work. However, while Pia eventually gets admission, Mohan's application is rejected.

Raj, Meeta & Pia return to Vasant Vihar. Raj and Meeta make a donation to the Bharat Nagar Government School, where Mohan studies, to renovate it and get new books. After watching their son become fluent in English, Shyam and Tulsi search for the identity of the anonymous donor to thank them. However, when he visits the donor's address in Vasant Vihar, Shyam finds out the truth about Raj pretending to be poor to enable Pia's admission and leaves to tell Delhi Grammar School's principal Lodha Singhania of Raj's deceit.

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".

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.

Key details