Director: Rajshree Ojha
Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Amrita Puri, Ira Dubey
In a late line from the film, Aisha Kapoor’s father tells her, “ Hum Kapoor hai. Hum zyada sochte nahi. We believe in action ”. This pretty much qualifies as an (unintentional) self-mocking line on producer Anil Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor and actress Sonam Kapoor. Perhaps the Kapoors put this picture into production without much pondering. What starts as a cheerful chick flick sadly ends up being a lame love story.
Based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma , the problem with the cinematic adaptation, unlike the book, is that within the first twenty minutes of the film you can predict the last twenty minutes. Which means once the characters are introduced and established, you can easily figure out which girl is gonna fall for which boy by the end, irrespective of all the cross-connections that the narrative attempts to mislead you.
Aisha (Sonam Kapoor) is a sassy Delhi dame who believes she is the best matchmaker in town. With friend Pinky (Ira Dubey), she plans to hook up her new bucolic buddy Shefali (Amrita Puri) with common friend Randhir (Cyrus Sahukar). When things don’t work out, she tries to set Shefali up with another friend Dhruv (Arunoday Singh) until Shefali falls for Arjun Burman (Abhay Deol). So far so good but like in all average love stories Arjun happens to be Aisha’s childhood friend! And abruptly Aisha’s heart starts beating for Arjun.
Seeking the sparkling spirit from chick flicks like Sex and the City, Confessions of a Shopaholic , 27 Dresses , et al director Rajashree Ojha sets the tone of the film correct. With her feminine perspective, the lady director adds a youthful zing to the female bonding, packaging the film with the requisite glitz and glamour. Also what’s amusing is the interesting characterization of Aisha modeled on Austen’s Emma Woodhouse. Aisha deviously dominates her friends, decides for them and (as her friend Arjun mentions) turns them into her Xerox copies. The silliness of her ideas and actions amuse and irritate.
But beyond its slick skin, the movie is weakened by Devika Bhagat’s standard screenplay. Pre-interval the film wanders aimlessly amidst polo matches and river-rafting camps and continues casually post-interval to reach a conventional ending. One can’t overlook the loose ends in the story for its lighthearted storytelling. While the first half is shallow on story, the second half is short on originality. What adds to the clichés is Aisha’s perplexity to profess love out of fear of rejection (a conflict too common) followed by a public declaration of her feelings in the climax (a scene too common).
The romantic chemistry between Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol seems nonexistent. You acknowledge them as good friends as the film starts but never realize when cupid has struck in the climax. The jealousy pangs that arouse adoration in Aisha’s mind are conspicuously absent. As a result, you don’t relate to her turmoil.
The pace drops drastically in the second half and even Sreekar Prasad’s editing doesn’t save the narrative from dragging. Shefali’s sudden realization towards the climax that she was taken for a ride all-through by Aisha seems a bit too rushed. The supposed romance between Shefali and Arjun is never elucidated. The film concludes with a peppy Punjabi track ( Gall Mithi Mithi Bol ) amidst wedding celebrations much in the vein of the Kawa Kawa number from the finale of Monsoon Wedding . Just that the end fails to have the same gratifying effect like the Mira Nair film.
On the upside, the film is blessed with a brilliant musical score by Amit Trivedi (of Dev.D fame). Also Trivedi’s treatment to the background score is refreshingly different and aptly complements the flavour of the film. The styling by Kunal Rawal and Pernia Qureshi is uber-cool and trendy. Cinematographer Diego Rodriguez imparts colourful richness to the frames. Dialogues by Manu Rishi and Ritu Bhatia are funny at instances but the climactic romantic discourse sounds verbose.
Director Rajashree Ojha succeeds in extracting decent performances from the entire cast. Sonam Kapoor fits the title role to T. Aisha is the most defined role she has essayed so far and Sonam adds spark and soul to it. Even when she irritates with her antics, she is in sync with her character. Abhay Deol as the suave corporate guy adds poise to, both, his character and performance, bringing sanity whenever Aisha goes insane. Amrita Puri as the small-town wannabe is hilarious with her middle-class mannerisms and elite aspirations. At times she overdoes it but still manages to be the scene-stealer. Ira Dubey as Aisha’s best pal is impressive. Cyrus Sahukar plays a loser in love and is funny. Lisa Haydon is plain pinup material. Arunoday Singh tries hard to play the Casanova.
‘A beautiful body but a shallow soul’ is what qualifies for, both, Aisha – the character as well as Aisha – the film.
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