Tumhari Sulu

Suresh Triveni's 2017 Indian film is about a housewife in suburban Mumbai. Sulu is energetic, talkative and fond of entering competitions; her family does not take her seriously and her sisters constantly remind her that she did not finish school. When she wins a radio contest she is offered a night show on the station and takes it, a suggestive programme built on talking to listeners by telephone. Her going out to work upsets the balance at home: her husband is uncomfortable, there is trouble at their son's school and the neighbours begin to talk. The film addresses a woman's right to work not through grand statements but through daily detail. Vidya Balan plays her cheerful and fragile. The tone is light and the humour plentiful. Who it's for: viewers who like Indian family drama and character comedy. Who it's not for: anyone expecting sharp criticism; the film settles somewhere conciliatory.