Balki jealous of wife Gauri

His directorial debut starred Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, but still R. Balki is jealous of his wife Gauri Shinde for working with Sridevi and choosing “English Vinglish” as her directorial debut.

“I am actually jealous of her (Gauri). I had thought of this idea, but I didn’t do, so it made me feel jealous,” he told reporters Monday at an event here to launch trailer of the film.

“English Vinglish” marks Sridevi’s comeback to big screen after 15 years. The 49-year-old’s last release was 1997 hit family drama “Judaai”.

“I was envying Gauri most of the time. I wanted to work with Sridevi before she did. In fact, I have thought of the idea before she did, but couldn’t do it…So, I had to sit back and be a spectator,” he said.

Amitabh makes a special appearance in the Hindi version of the drama about an Indian woman, played by Sridevi, who moves to the US after marriage and how she deals with the insecurity of not knowing English language.

“English Vinglish” will have three versions – Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Balki describes it as a semi-dubbed film and explains that: “Few portions we have shot simultaneously. Mr. Bachchan’s role in Tamil and Telugu is played by Ajith, but it’s Sridevi’s voice only in all the films, so basically it’s a semi-dubbed film.”

Earlier, “English Vinglish” was to release with “Heroine” on Sep 21, but later it was pushed to Oct 5.

When asked the reason for this, Balki replied tongue in cheek, “She (Sridevi) is the hero of the film and heroes normally allow heroines to come first.”