Sridevi’s sarees from her comeback film English Vinglish to be auctioned to celebrate its 10th anniversary

Sridevi-starrer English Vinglish will mark a decade of its release on Wednesday, and director Gauri Shinde has planned a special event to honour the film and its lead star. English Vinglish, which marked Sridevi's comeback film after a 15-year hiatus, starred her as Shashi Godbole. Sridevi's portrayal of Shashi, a small entrepreneur who makes snacks and enrolls in an English-speaking course to stop her husband and daughter from mocking her lack of English skills, earned her many accolades and critical acclaim. Also Read| Ponniyin Selvan: Rajinikanth had imagined Sridevi as Kundavai

The film had released in theatres on October 5, 2012. Gaur Shinde said the team of English Vinglish will host a special event on October 10 to celebrate the film’s 10th anniversary. At the event, the sarees Sridevi wore in the film will be auctioned. The proceeds from the auction will go to an NGO working for girls’ education.

Gauri Shinde, who marked her directorial debut with the film, told Indian Express that she kept the sarees the late actor wore in the film safely for all these years. She said about the event, “We are doing a celebration of the ten years of English Vinglish, so we are doing a screening in Andheri on October 10. We will do a screening, get people in, have a conversation about the film, that’s tentatively the plan. We are also going to auction her sarees, which I had very safely kept till now.”

Gauri added, "We are auctioning the sarees Sridevi wore as Shashi in the film. I would like to use it for girls’ education NGO. I always wanted to do this, but it never happened. I thought now, this would be the most befitting."

English Vinglish was Sridevi's first film after her 1997 hit Judaai. After her comeback, she starred in Tamil fantasy action-adventure Puli and Hindi crime thriller Mom, which also marked her last full-length film. She died in February 2018. Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Zero (2018) featured her in a cameo and was released after her death.

English Vinglish also starred Adil Hussain, French actor Mehdi Nebbou, and Priya Anand, and first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it received a 5-minute standing ovation. It became a major box office success as well, grossing ₹102 crore against a budget of ₹10 crore. It was also shortlisted as India's official entry for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category, though ultimately Barfi came out as the official selection.