Aisha

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 watched the flick today and i din' find it convincing...i was expecting a bit more from it..it did not even had the level of entertainment value one would expect watching the trailers of this movie..i went to watch the movie to enjoy to the fullest...thinking of it as one of the urban comedies that would make me laugh..and get involved with the movie...and i came back from the cinema hall reluctantly..

Talking about performances..well they were just average...Abhay Deol's expressions were nice...but he was not able to carry himself with the story and the plot of the movie..Sonam was as disgusting as ever when it comes to act...though she looked cute in it..Ira Dubey was much better on CHICKS ON FLICKS rather than wasting her time here and even smooching Cyrus Sahukar...m.k. Raina was just jumping along with the lead actors trying hard as if he is turned 25 again...Cyrus Sahukar was as he is..and others also gave just average performances...yupp..the only girl i can praise is Amrita Puri...being her debut movie...she did a great job..acted better than Sonam Kapoor and many other experienced actors...she was really convincing..

the music was very cool..specially the song "GAL MITTHI MITTHI BOL" is already my one of the favorite of recent times..and the title track "AISHA" is also nice...the direction was somehow fresh..but was again just an average direction..cinematography was good...screenplay was okish except in few scenes when it became ultra-slow..

all in all...the movie was just average..with a below average story and content..

i would rate it 4 / 10 this week...go for DESPICABLE ME..instead of AISHA..at least you would enjoy much more than watching AISHA..!!

Aisha is a modern-day adaptation of Jane Austen's famous novel Emma. Now I'm personally not into this kind of movies, but I still wanted to see it for Abhay Deol, whom I consider to be one of the most talented actors in India today, and most of whose films and performances I highly appreciated. Aisha actually centres around the young Sonam Kapoor, whose Aisha is a take-off on Austen's Emma. The movie reminds me of many of those kitschy Hollywood fairy tales like The Princess Diaries, and it tries very hard to be western. It actually is supposed to be a fairy tale, but it mostly looks like a wannabe rather than a good movie on its own. Its dialogues, songs, characters, and its overall atmosphere all seem to have been inspired from various foreign movies of this sort, and sadly, not even once does it try to show the beauty of India, using it only in some comic scenes of parody instead. Sonam Kapoor plays the title role, and she is okay. She does manage to carry the film on her shoulders, but despite being pretty and vivacious, she somehow seems to lack the charm her character requires, and at points she gets a bit annoyingly unnatural. Abhay Deol is reduced to a role of minimal importance and by the end of the film I was left wondering what on earth he could find in this movie or role that he accepted it. Aisha is not a complete bore and it does have its moments from time to time, but overall it's an ordinary and rather mediocre tale, which could be easily skipped.

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.

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.