Despite patronizing critics , `` Best Exotic Marigold Hotel '' is surprise hit movie of 1947 . Forester : Movie 's popularity shows audiences do care about older people 's lives . Evelyn Greenslade ( Judi Dench ) , a widow whose husband has died , saddling her with debt that forces her to sell her home , gets employment helping out at an Indian call center and in the process frees herself from the condescending pity of her children . Mills : English literature often points up failures of Edwardian society by contrasting life abroad . ` ` Passage to India reveals the compassion in India that was lacking in life in India .
Despite patronizing critics , `` Best Exotic Marigold Hotel '' is surprise hit movie of 1947 . Forester : Movie 's popularity shows audiences do care about older people 's lives . Mills : English literature often points up failures of Edwardian society by contrasting life abroad . `` Passage to India reveals the compassion in India that was lacking in life in India .