Aisha (2010)

The film opens at a wedding party for the upper crust, leaders of industry, old money, their families. The opulence is clear. The narration proceeds from Aisha, a young woman perhaps not quite of marriageable age. Aisha decides she's is going to be a matchmaker. Her first project is to match the not-beauty-conscious Shefali with some suitable bachelor, say Randhir, who is well-established and thinks rather highly of himself.Aisha and Pinky start the make-over of Shefali. Arjun lets Aisha know he thinks she has gone to far. While setting up Randhir and Shefali, Aisha encounters Dhruv, her aunt's new husband's only son. Arjun seems a bit jealous the next morning. Aisha and Shefali go to the animal rescue center (ARC) where Shefali meets Saurabh, whom she seems to know and like already. This seems out of step with Aisha's plans.The whitewater camping party was a bit of a change from all the ostentatious display of wealth in the initial wedding scene, or the polo match, or the trips to the upscale clothing stores. The single instrument, single voice musical interlude was quite nice. The music without dance was well done. Shefali falls into the river at one point; Arjun jumps in to rescue her.Aisha's interest in Dhruv and in Arjun deepens during this trip. The presence of Arjun's friend Aarti from New York helps this along. Randhir reveals his interest in Aisha, who is quick to discourage it, since this upsets her plans. Shefali wonders why Randhir did not help her out of the river. Randhir confides to Pinky that no one likes him. He bemoans the probability of remaining a bachelor for life; Pinky says, 'join the club.' Great stuff. On the way back, previous events match Pinky and Randhir driving back with just each other. Aisha goes with Dhruv after the bad scene with Randhir.Back at home, Aisha decides to quit matchmaking, and tell Shefali about Randhir. What more could possibly go wrong? Arjun and Aisha reconnect, for a while. Shefali reconnects with Saurabh. The writing is on the wall, but Aisha tries to re-direct things, again.Ah, another party. Dance numbers. Territorial stuff. Arjun slugs Dhruv, then leaves with Aarti. At a formal family party, Arjun brings Aarti. Will Aisha recognize her own interest in Arjun?Randhir and Pinky become engaged; Aisha is surprised that no one consulted her. Shefali wants to get rid of everything that reminds her of Randhir. Aisha thinks of setting up Shefali and Dhruv. Shefali is more interested in Arjun, since he actually stepped up to save her in the river. Shefali finally revolts against Aisha's controlling actions. Aisha and Arjun have another falling out.Dhruv and Aarti get engaged. Aisha tells her father she's in love with Arjun. Her father tells her he will set things up, and that she should go tell Arjun, who's at the party for Aarti and Dhruv. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a bit.------Scores-------Cinematography: 8/10 Focus is too soft for my taste, but most of the camera work looks very good.Sound: 9/10 Fine.Acting: 6/10 Overly dominated by the indifferent Sonam Kapoor; fortunately, many of the good supporting actors cushion this effect.Screenplay: 7/10 It's a piece about a strongly irritating personality, but it's fairly well done.Musical Numbers: 6/10 There is not nearly as much dancing as usual. Included a few moments of rap, which I could have done without.

It's a known fact that Devika Bhagat's screenplay is an adaptation of Jane Austen's 'Emma'. The trailers gave the impression of another silly Yashraj movie but seeing the cast and the fact that it was based on a Jane Austen novel, I wanted to give it a shot. Phew, it's definitely not as bad as the Yashraj fairy tale garbage. However, even though I enjoyed 'Aisha' it could have easily been better.With the exception of the wedding and engagement sequences, most of the time 'Aisha' felt too western. They could have Indianized it a bit more. I'm not saying to completely traditionalize it as it's important to show Aisha as an arrogant spoiled brat who loves modern fashion but there's no need to make the film look like a fashion show of western outfits. Also, the commercialization of brands was sometimes too in-your-face. In addition, a few sequences have been lifted off Amy Heckerling's 'Clueless', especially the scenes with Shefali. Moreover I felt that the ending was rushed. I would have liked to see more development of Aisha, Shefali and Pinky post the 'breakup'.Among the good points is that 'Aisha is fun to watch. The music is superb. The comedy works very well. There's hardly a dull moment. The chemistry between most actors is just right. Beautiful looking Sonam Kapoor shows tremendous improvement as an actress since her awkward debut in 'Saawariya'. The performance may not be stupendous but she's competent and proves to be a much better actress than most of her contemporaries. Abhay Deol doesn't have a large role but he lights the screen with a natural performance when he appears in a scene. Ira Dubey, Cyrus Sahukar and Amrita Puri are brilliant. Lisa Haydon doesn't overdo her sexbomb colleague character. A stunning Anuradha Patel is a treat to watch. Anand Tiwari is wasted.'Aisha' is a decently made film. I found the settings quite confusing and inconsistent. Some scenes were filmed in India and others abroad while there was no mention of such. The cinematography is average and the editing at times felt patchy but not to the extent that it ruins the entire movie. 'Aisha' is no classic but it's entertaining.

AISHA – CATCH IT ( B- ) Aisha is inspired by international Best seller Emma and the scenes of the movie are ditto copy of Alicia Silverstone's Clueless. The whole movie is like you have seen that hundred times before. The movie is really stylized and Sonam Kapoor looks really Hip. She acted really well and looked like an elite gal. Amrita Puri and Ira Dubey were amazing; they were funny and acted really well. Abhay Deol is like a dead fish, I don't know why people cast him, I found him incredibly boring. Lisa Hayden, Cyrus Shahukar and Arunoday Singh were perfect. Overall it's a complete chic flick, which we have seen hundred times, so watch it if you want to see a Hindi version other wise leave it. Watch Clueless again even after Two Decades its much much better.

I thought Aisha was really cute. As an Emma adaptation, I thought it was excellent- they kept all the important elements of the story in, and I saw a few homages to Clueless in there as well. I like that Aisha wasn't 100% likable, as she shouldn't be- she is a girl who's been given everything in life, which doesn't always lend itself to peachy sweetness. Of course she's going to be arrogant! Nobody other than Arjun ever says no to her.Because this film is about a very wealthy girl and her matchmaking pursuits, which do often come across as very superficial and celebrating monetary pleasures, and the characters are very shallow at times (their problems are hardly anything, compared to the very real struggles other Indians face) I can see how some people might not like it- my dad thought it was absolutely ridiculous (his exact quotes were "I can't believe filmmakers would waste celluloid on this trash").However, the essence of the film is to show how silly Aisha's attempts are at forcing what cannot be forced, regardless of how much she tries to manipulate the situation or how much money she throws at it. She is portrayed as an arrogant girl, but we are shown that doing so ultimately alienates her friends from her. Do the filmmakers celebrate what could be labeled as "western excess" in the process of telling her story? Sure, but who doesn't like seeing pretty clothes and hairstyles once in a while? Aisha Kapoor is not one of the "mango people"- who would expect her to be? The music was terrific, and the supporting cast did a wonderful job- especially Amrita Puri, who played the character of Shefali. For those who have seen Clueless, I definitely felt echoes of Brittany Murphy's character Tai through her performance- in a great way. She was really cute! And Ira Dubey played Aisha's sarcastic friend Pinky (Dion in Clueless) to a T, and Abhay Deol and Cyrus Shankar were great as Arjun and Randhir.I personally highly recommend this film if you're looking for a fun, escapist Jane Austen adaptation with great clothes and danceable music.