Star Cast of Aisha: Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Ira Dubey, Arunoday Singh, Cyrus Shahukar, Lisa Haydon, Amrita Puri, Anand Tiwari, Vidhushi Mehra, Sameer Malhotra, Anooradha Patel, Yuri, M. K. Raina, Masood Akhtar
Though there is an age old saying that marriages are made in heaven and only held on this planet, there are some people, who challenge this saying and try to be match-makers. Aisha is a story of a young girl, who also tries her hand at this activity.
The film, which is an adaptation of a novel, is a very simple love story. The director has tried to give a present day touch to 200 years old story, which has been told a number of times in various ways not only in India but also across the world.
Aisha is different than the usual love stories we see in Bollywood because it does not contain those dramatic sequences that we tend to associate with Bollywood. Though this is not seen in every Bollywood film, the director and the writer have made sure that they do not change the basic story of the novel and the characters in Aisha have no hurdles to cross, no opposition to face and no conflicts to solve, as was the case in the original novel.
But while the director has tried to stick to the novel, this has had a major adverse impact on the film. In his attempt to be true to the novel, the director has made the film move very slowly in the middle. The film makers have also added some strange situations to the film, which make it look rather odd. This again has a negative impact on the film.
The film is a story of two people. First among them is Aisha (Sonam Kapoor), who thinks everyone’s problem is her own and therefore loves to interfere in the life of other people and the second is Arjun (Abhay Deol), who simply hates this habit of Sonam and feels that she should mind her own business.
Based in the Upper class society of Delhi, though Aisha peeps into personal life of other people, she does so with such style, elegance and optimism that no one actually minds it.
Defying the norms, that are followed in the elite social circles of Delhi,
Aisha makes four of her close friends Pinky [Ira Dubey], Shefali [Amrita Puri], boy Randhir [Cyrus Sahukar] and Dhruv [Arunoday Singh] sing to her tunes. Little does she understand that in her attempt to play with the life of others, she is actually getting herself into trouble. The only person, who can figure out the problems she is getting into is Arjun, who desperately tries to save her by asking her not to get into the entire mess.
The quick pace at which director Rajshree Ojha and writer Devika Bhagat introduce and establish all the characters in the film makes you believe that the incidents are going to unveil very fast and the film is going to move at a very swift pace. But just when you are expecting something dramatic, nothing happens and the film loses its pace. For a long time you feel as if you are watching many different events, which have no link with each other and the main story. This is a major failure on part of both the writer and the director of the film.
Aisha only picks up in the second half when both Sonam and Abhay are jealous of each other and there is strain in their relation. Some sequences in the second half like Somnan confrontation with Amrita, Sonam admitting her love for Abhay at a marriage reception only to realize that she has come to the wrong venue have been well shot and keep you hooked to the film.
Director Rajshree Ojha has shown her potential as a director but a weak script lets her down at various places. Both Sonam and Abhay time and again losing temper at each-other looks little out of context and so does the love story of Ira Dubey and Cyrus Sahukar, which has been written so badly that the viewer does not know how they fall in love. All these are weakness of the script and screenplay, which are extremely poor.
The film will be remembered for its excellent technical work behind the camera. Whether it is the production designs by Shruti Gupte or the costume designs by Pernia Qureshi and Kunal Rawal or the cinematography by Diego Rodriguez or music Amit Trivedi, the excellent work by all of them has made some portions of Aisha a treat to watch.
If the producer of the film Anil Kapoor made Aisha to showcase the acting talent of his daughter Sonam Kapoor, he has been very successful. The way she has managed to portray various emotions with same ease goes to show that Sonam has a lot of caliber. Abhay Deol is natural as ever and has managed to leave an impact in a women oriented film.
Apart from these two, the support cost of Ira Dubey, Amrita Puri, Cyrus Sahukar, Arunoday Singh, Anuradha Singh, M.K. Raina and Anand Tiwari have given an efficient performance.
Aisha is a romantic movie for the youth with some great technical work, which should appeal to them.
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