AISHA.... BY ANIL KAPOOR

AISHA....





A dream project by Anil Kapoor is ready to take off at the box office.well i saw the movie today and here comes my views and opinion which says it is an average film which will not be a commercial hit. "It is a nicely prepared chinese dish but without the sauces"

Based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma , the problem with the cinematic adaptation, unlike the book, is that within the first twenty minutes of the film you can predict the last twenty minutes. Which means once the characters are introduced and established, you can easily figure out which girl is gonna fall for which boy by the end, irrespective of all the cross-connections that the narrative attempts to mislead you.

Aisha (Sonam Kapoor) is a sassy Delhi dame who believes she is the best matchmaker in town. With friend Pinky , she plans to hook up her new bucolic buddy Shefali with common friend Randhir . When things don’t work out, she tries to set Shefali up with another friend Dhruv , until Shefali falls for Arjun Burman (Abhay Deol). So far so good but like in all average love stories Arjun happens to be Aisha’s childhood friend! And abruptly Aisha’s heart starts beating for Arjun.

With her feminine perspective, the lady director adds a youthful zing to the female bonding, packaging the film with the requisite glitz and glamour. Also what’s amusing is the interesting characterization of Aisha modeled on Austen’s Emma Woodhouse. Aisha deviously dominates her friends, decides for them and (as her friend Arjun mentions) turns them into her Xerox copies. The silliness of her ideas and actions amuse and irritate.

Pre-interval the film wanders aimlessly amidst polo matches and river-rafting camps and continues casually post-interval to reach a conventional ending. One can’t overlook the loose ends in the story for its lighthearted storytelling. While the first half is shallow on story, the second half is short on originality. What adds to the clichés is Aisha’s perplexity to profess love out of fear of rejection followed by a public declaration of her feelings in the climax scene that is too common in the bollywood movies. The romantic chemistry between Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol seems nonexistent. You acknowledge them as good friends as the film starts but never realize when cupid has struck in the climax. The jealousy pangs that arouse adoration in Aisha’s mind are conspicuously absent. As a result, you don’t relate to her turmoil.

The pace drops drastically in the second half and even the beautiful editing doesn’t save the narrative from dragging. Shefali’s sudden realization towards the climax that she was taken for a ride all-through by Aisha seems a bit too rushed. The supposed romance between Shefali and Arjun is never elucidated. The film concludes with a peppy Punjabi track ( Gall Mithi Mithi Bol ) amidst wedding celebrations very similar to that of mira nair's monsoon wedding.It is Just that the end fails to have the same gratifying effect like the Mira Nair film. On the upside, the film is blessed with a brilliant musical score by Amit Trivedi (of Dev.D fame). Also Trivedi’s treatment to the background score is refreshingly different and aptly complements the flavour of the film.

Dialogues are funny at some points but they failed to create the long lasting magic in the audience mind. Director Rajashree Ojha succeeds in extracting decent performances from the entire cast. Sonam Kapoor fits the title role to T. Aisha is the most defined role she has essayed so far and Sonam adds spark and soul to it. Even when she irritates with her antics, she is in sync with her character. Abhay Deol as the corporate guy adds poise to, both, his character and performance, bringing sanity whenever Aisha goes insane. Ira Dubey as Aisha’s best pal is impressive.In short the film is confused about the target audience neither it is fit for the classes nor the masses. Lisa Haydon is plain pinup material. Arunoday Singh tries hard to play the Casanova. ‘A beautiful body but a shallow soul’ is what qualifies for, both, Aisha – the character as well as Aisha – the film.