Saturday 7 August, 2010

Aisha - The Review



Here's a confession for you - I love a good chick flick. They transport you to this wonderland of sorts where everything is possible. They all start happy chirpy, then there's a drop in the middle where the chick faces a moral dilemma, a climax where the hero and the chick kiss passionately, and a happy chirpy end. This tried and tested formula has been satisfying lonely, heartbroken girls for the longest time.

Then there are the bad ones. The ones that are so bad, you feel like tearing your hair apart in annoyance. You know the ones where, in spite of being so bad, you can't stop watching just because you've already seen it halfway. I saw Sex and the City 2 last week, and I was actually crying because it was so bad. But I will save my rant on the atrocious shitty movie for another post. This one's about Aisha.

To be honest, before I watching this movie, I had expected to absolutely hate it. (maybe SATC 2 has marred my chick flick experience for life?) I thought it will be 2 hours of L'Oreal, Christian Dior, Salvatore Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton; and how the chick can afford those shopping sprees and we can't. Honestly, it's a bit of that along with a so-called adaptation of Emma by Jane Austen.

Sonam Kapoor plays Aisha, the ditsy, nosey matchmaker from a rich Delhi background. Her best friend Pinky Bose (Ira Dubey) is mean, spunky and wears clothes that look like Andy Warhol threw up on them. Then there's Shefali Thakur (Amrita Puri), a talkative "behenji type" Haryanvi girl who has come to Delhi to find a boy for marriage. Aisha takes it up on her self to find a match for Shefali along with giving her a makeover (which includes 'subtle' L'Oreal product placements).

The men in this movie are Abhay Deol as Arjun Burman (who Sonam Kapoor calls Arjan throughout the movie with her weird accent), Aisha's next door neighbour and her complete antithesis. Cyrus Sahukar (cast brilliantly as Randhir Gambhir) is an heir to a mithai dynasty and has a soft spot for Aisha, but fights continuously with Pinky. Then there's the really really hot Dhruv Singh (Arunoday Singh..super smokin' hot shirtless!) who flirts outrageously with Aisha.

The movie basically involves Aisha's meddling ways in trying to get Shefali to hook up with guys she thinks are right for her. Arjun warns her of the consequences, but she doesn't listen. There are camping trips and people getting high, shopping, match making gone wrong, hot girl (Lisa Haydon) taking Arjun's time, making Aisha jealous, fights, punches, babies, more shopping, realizations, etc. etc. etc. Finally after two hours the movie ends, and I'm left thinking I've seen this movie before.

As it turns out, Aisha is not an adaptation of Emma, but an adaptation of Clueless, which was a 1995 comic adaptation of Emma. Clueless starred Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz, and Aisha's character is based on hers. I saw the movie again yesterday, and noticed a lot of scenes and character traits in Aisha have been lifted straight from Clueless.

On the technical side, the cinematography was horrid, some scenes being completely out of focus. Music is fun, upbeat and fresh, quite enjoyable. Cyrus Sahukar is fun to watch, Amrita Puri is annoying, Ira Dubey is bleh, Sonam Kapoor is ok but needs help with that accent and Abhay Deol is flawless (and useless at the same time!)

All in all, this one's an ok movie, can be enjoyed with a big group of girls. Guys, avoid.

Final three word review of Aisha: Clueless was better.

2/5

1 comment:

Rashmi said...

Thanks for this review, i was anyway dreading the idea of going for this one.
You saved me :)