Aiyyaa

Aiyyaa was a major critical and financial failure, but having seen the nice trailer and liked it, and considering the fact that Rani Mukherjee is in it, I most willingly decided to watch it. I personally found Aiyya to be thoroughly enjoyable. It is a slightly mad but totally relatable comic ride which is well written and acted and which has plenty of great moments. The humour is indeed very different from what we are used to watching in the usual Bollywood fare, and the basic concept of a woman just going 'aiyyaa' over a stranger whose mysterious fragrance attracts her the most may be quite weird at points. But, it is this very premise which makes this little film ever more unique and funny. The film is portrayed rather realistically, with the sets, costumes and dialogue giving it an engaging sense of everyday simplicity, while being consistently humorous. The portrayal of Meenakshi's Marathi family is very amusing, and the songs are quite fun to watch. Aiyyaa's biggest strength, however, is the portrayal of its main character; Meenakshi finds a way to deal with her everyday troubles through the power of the imagination. She creates her own perfect, spiritual world, using her dreams without really losing herself. In this regard, Aiyyaa works as a mini-celebration of the human spirit.

All of this, however, wouldn't have been the same without the wonderful presence of Rani Mukherjee. Mukherjee is a true delight in this film. Her last great performance was in a minuscule part in Saawariya, and it's been ages since we've seen her really immerse herself into a character, as she does here. As Meenakshi, she is hilarious and at times just borderline self-deprecatory. It is this uninhibited, fearless quality that makes this comic performance work so well. Her dance numbers, needless to say, are brilliant and she looks a million bucks in each one of them. South Indian actor Prithviraj is for the most part a mere presence on-screen, but he does pretty well and is good foil for Mukherjee. The other members of the cast are all very good and turn in nice and funny acts. Towards the end the film provides us with some of its most beautiful sequences. The climactic scenes are very surprising and the ending is unexpected and rewarding. This is also the opportunity to note the excellent cinematography, and the amazing background score, which enhance the narrative. Aiyyaa is an absolute laugh riot which has been misunderstood and rejected by critics and audiences just for the wrong reasons. I liked it, and would definitely recommend it to Hindi film buffs.

There was a time in the early '2k era' when an actress was slowly making a mark in Indian cinema. She was small, impish, vigorously spontaneous and ever charming. Her crackling voice appeared unpleasant initially leading filmmakers like Mahesh Bhatt to dub someone else for her. However, like a true talent would, she turned every scar to star. Rani Mukherjee, the actress with all her effervescence was missing all this while from the silver screen, she made her fans wait and grumble. However, the wait was worth!! With "Aiyaa", Rani is rightfully "back with a bang". She rants, she banters, she raves and she rules!!!

Meenakshi Deshpande (Rani Mukherjee) loves to dream herself as Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi and Juhi Chawla (the ladies who ruled Indian cinema in the 90's). She idolizes them...but wait, she is not a wannabe actress, she simply loves to dream! A typical 'teenage Bollywood freak' at heart, Meenakshi's dreams are pompous, opulent and larger-than-life, no matter how diminutive her real life existence is. While her parents almost hound for a suitable match for her, she secretly nourishes the idea of eloping with her boyfriend by taking away all her grand ma's assorted jewellery. A secret wish to fall in love and get rid of the 'ever-so-mundane' ways of life is all that she wants. The movie begins by elucidating upon the innuendos of this freaky, simple yet vivacious Marathi mulgi. Meenakshi's dream is perhaps every (middle class) girl's dream and this is where an instant connection takes place between the audience and the gripping narrative of this girl.

Rani Mukherjee with all her gusto gives a live wire performance as Meenakshi on-screen.

Before one could settle down with the vibrancy of this girl, another aspect about her comes to surface. Meenakshi is hyper-sensitive to 'smell' in general. The municipality dustbin is just a stone's throw from her house. She is agitated, screams and rants about it all the day. Feels stifled almost every time she passes by it and gets nauseated by its foulness. However, the fragrance of dreams never ceases to grasp her. The bin here works as a complete metaphor to showcase the innate quality of this girl to live life just the way she wants to!

The story develops further. Meenakshi eventually manages a job as a librarian in an art college and consequently feels a magnetic pull towards an art student there for the "heavenly" smell that he emanates. Is it the perennial stingy smell that she has to bear with back home which makes her so drawn towards this "out-of the world" smell of this man? We ponder! Prithviraj, I was told is a South superstar. He absolutely lives up to the expectations in the film. Super dashing as he looks on screen, his contemplative face as an artist is a "countenance to reckon with", so much so that Meenakshi eventually falls head-over-heels in love with him and so does most of the girls in the audience! (I included)

Like her dreams Meenakshi follows him almost everywhere. She goes all out of her way to learn Tamil. She barges into the men's toilet, gatecrashes into his house as a sales woman and secretly steals his shirt only to wear it in the night and feel closer to his 'existence'. The longing to be with the beloved can also be satiated by wearing his clothes, his belongings and their remnants. A beautiful expression indeed!!

Gyrating dance moves and raunchy make-ups are nothing but an expression of her fantasies that plummets the moment real life strikes.

Meenakshi's marriage gets apparently fixed up with the 'Farooque Sheikh' admirer Madhav which she couldn't impede even after a forceful horrendous rendition of a Tamil song.

She continually follows her dream man who is continually oblivious about her. Meenakshi pulls out all the stops to follow him for an entire day and escapes from her pending engagement. She finally meets him eventually discovers the reason for the heavenly smell that pulls her....

Almost a fairytale story told in a fairytale fashion, 'Aiyaa' wins your heart with its softness, unique expression of love and ever so pure "smell" factor attached to it. What is it, other than the looks, which make a person different from the others externally? Smell right?

No two individual can smell the same technically. The director harps on this fact and colors it with all the possible shades of romance. The intensity of a person's body, the feeling of getting attached with him by inhaling that fragrance…..emotions become almost palpable at the very realization of it all!!

'Aiyaa' other than being a fun to watch movie is also very profound in the message it inadvertently conveys. With some comic relief in the form of the 'golden tooth of the grand ma' and Meenakshi's pro-PETA brother (which I honestly feel the script did not need at all), the film fulfills all the quotients of entertainment. After Sridevi's powerful performance in English Vinglish, its Rani's exuberance that comes our way this time round. What a treat for movie buffs! Much like Sridevi's Shashi, who ends up completely transforming herself as an expert in English, Rani's Meenakshi too coverts from speaking "aiyaa" to "aaiyo". She meets her dream man finally and becomes "Meenakshi Deshpande Iyer".

P.S- Extra ordinary dance prowess showcased by Rani (especially the belly dance). Beautiful movie, must watch!!

I was quite excited about this one as I'm curious about any film Rani Mukherjee does outside her comfort zone (cough cough minus Khans and Chopra). Moreover the film is produced by Anurag Kashyap which further peaked my interest. However, 'Aiyyaa' fails to deliver. The two major problems were the pacing and the script. Some serious editing was required because it seriously drags. Perhaps about an hour of the film could have easily been left out to make this at least more enjoyable.

The key part of the film, the relationship between Surya and Meenakshi is not explored at all. We see Meenakshi stalking him as she's seduced by his smell but why? What's so powerful about it that she finds herself stalking him? The Surya character is cardboard and Mynah is among the most annoying supporting characters. She really is intolerable. Moreover she even gets a song number which is the worst part of 'Aiyyaa'. Speaking of songs, most of them appear randomly and are shot like those horrible Tamil item numbers (except that here they look more expensive).

Rani has proved in the past that she has a knack for comedy which has been wasted in silly films. Sadly, 'Aiyyaa' isn't an exception but that doesn't change the fact that Rani is exceptional (whether it's her acting or dancing) despite the poor writing. She's full of energy. I thoroughly enjoyed her rendition of Sridevi, Juhi, Madhuri and Silk Smitha in those song sequences. Those are perhaps the funniest sequences, along with the possible suitors. Nirmiti Sawant too provides some laughs as Meenakshi's obsessed mother. Subodh Bhave delivers a sincere performance.

'Aiyyaa' does look quite expensive. Too bad director Sachin Kundalkar hasn't put the money to better use.

Meenakshi is so real,she portrays any gal's dilemma of pursuing inner desires vs choosing a life which is practical and realistic. except for the raunchy numbers, this movie is a beautiful. the songs seems like they were added for the masses otherwise its a very well written and directed story. i love the chemistry between meenakshi and surya . her helplessness in expressing her true intent was portrayed very well by Rani Mukerji. i like prithviraj and i would watch this again for him.

There are some completely cringe-worthy things about this film, notably certain supporting characters and the Benny Hill style speeded up action. After 15 minutes, I paused it to see what IMDB had to say. 4.4 stars. I've never watched a movie with less than 5 stars, and only a few under 6. Nevertheless, I decided to perserve. I'm glad I did. I truly enjoyed the musical numbers, done mostly in colorful Indian style clothing (as opposed to the "urban" look that is showing up in Bollywood), and Ms. Mukerji was a delight. She completely carried the movie, almost by herself. The ending was quite worth waiting for, and Im glad I did. 6.5 stars.