Aisha

Aisha is about this super rich good-hearted luxury-snob who sees nothing beyond anything high class, and she can very well afford to. Sonam Kapoor plays Aisha, who is some sort of a cross between Sex and The City's Carrie (in her quintessential fashion sense) and Cher from Clueless (in her adorable snobbishness). She's into social services such as protecting animal rights, appreciating and creating arts, and not to forget her newly found talent, match making.

Teamed with her best friend Pinky, Aisha tries to match make a plain-Haryana-Jane (named Shefali) with her friend Randhir, whom she thinks is perfect for Shefali, but Randhir in fact is in love with Aisha herself. Her only obstacle is Arjun (Abhay Deol), or so she thinks.

In a nut shell, Aisha is a feel good movie, with cute and lovely characters, who each leave their mark with their roles and acting, although I felt Abhay Deol was shortchanged for the amount of potential he has. Amrita Puri (Shefali) in my opinion is the best one to watch out for. Sonam is also very lovable in the snobbish role of a high society snob whom we'd love to hate.

One downside of the movie is that I felt the movie was really pretentious with the amount of super high flying luxurious life shown, especially with the polo match and unreal river rafting getaway in a well-equipped camp house for the vain people. On a positive note, the movie was some very light hearted moments, even makes a what seems serious love declaration at the wedding function into a light comedy moment. You can't help loving Aisha!

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 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.

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.

Lets be clear that style is more important than substance in this film. Its almost a paid promo for Sonam and the brands she endorses.. L'Oreal / Dior / Elle / Louis Vuitton getting as much footage as some of the characters. What keeps it together are some good punch lines and very good performances from Abhay Deol (who basically carries the film on his shoulders), Ira Dubey (plays her part to perfection) and Amrita Puri (who puts heart into the girl from Bahadurgarh). They manage to hold it reasonably together till the first half but then it starts to fall apart. Key reason is that we never understand why the characters behave the way they do because character development is sacrificed at the altar of fast paced storytelling. And promoting Sonam, making sure she is always the centre of attention. And its all very predictable. For more on this movie & other reviews visit apurvbollywood at blogspot