Aisha Review

Aisha, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s 18th century novel Emma is a romantic comedy that showcases the intricacies of love in a very simplified and honest prototype. Director Rajshree Ojha has done a commendable job in portraying the characters in keeping with the source, while altering the backdrop to the contemporary scenario. Veering around the age old concept of “Marriages are made in heaven and consummated on earth”, the movie is an eye candy for its remarkable and stylish costume design that depicts the high class modern fashionistas.

Emma Woodhouse of Highbury has been played by the charming Sonam Kapoor who has stepped into the character proficiently by filling in the essential attributes of ‘handsome, clever and rich’. With the recent success acquired in setting things up between her ‘masi’ and a certain Cornel Singh, which was followed by their romantic marriage, Aisha glows with pride and goes on in pursuit of another possible match making. In the ceremony, she comes across Shefali, playing Harriet, a behenji type plain-Jane typecast, new to Delhi. As she weaves the possibility of a potential matchmaking between Shefali and Randhir, (played by Cyrus Sahukar), she pressed trying to fix them up together. The plot rolls on to reveal that Randhir was instead, love struck by Aisha, who immediately dismisses Randhir and sets herself to the task of finding Shefali another high profile suitor. With a pure passion for meddling into people’s business, Aisha goes on manipulating Shefali’s decision directing her into all but blind ends. However, Aisha lacked the depth of a female character as both the novel and movie have tried to maintain the frivolous and superficial aura of the affluent section.

As typical to Emma and other novels by Austen, the male characters are side staged, the role of Arjun, a replacement of the prudent Mr. Knightly has come in the play only to add an impetus to Aisha’s realization that love cannot be forced upon. As Aisha evolves out from her shallow, juvenile being during the course of the story, Arjun guides her all through, in his attempt to disentangle the web and rescue her out of the mess. The character of Mr. Knightly has been aptly and subtly played by Abhay Deol without skipping any trait of the character that contributes positively to the synopsis of the story. With a critical eye, he scrutinizes Aisha’s activities recurrently, reprimanding her for her unripe advances. In his role, as he shakes her out of her stupor into the real world and into the realization of her true feelings towards him, Abhay has done a palpable job staying within his limited parameters and intermittent appearance in the movie.

The flick catches pace as Aarti, Arjun’s colleague and love interest comes into being and Aisha suffers pangs of jealousy which leads to the moment of epiphany about her true feelings towards Arjun. This is where, the movie shifts slightly from the novel as Mr. Knightly didn’t have any romantic company. The second half witnessed appearance of some sublime hurdles, small conflicts and debilitating crossroads where Aisha had to grow out of her usual infantile self to make sensible judgments that contributes to her fruition into a lady. As the climax approaches, all the impasses started to un-complicate themselves and differences get diluted with the final knot of adoration between the main protagonists left to be tied at the end. However, Arjun seemed very clear in his inclinations throughout and in the end as he romantically proposes to Aisha about his love for her in a typical Mills and Boons style.

Other subordinate characters like Pinky Bose, Aisha’s daddy, Masi, Aarti and Dhruv have accentuated the drama by donating to the plot. The character of Pinky as Aisha’s best friend, played by Ira Dubey is an add-on to the storyline and has given the course of action a twist in the process as eventually she gets wooed by Randhir unexpectedly. M.K.Raina as Aisha’s daddy played a lovable, kindhearted father figure. It appears that the rest of the team, Aisha’s masi as a supportive character with motherly disposition, Dhruv a gentleman with modern sensibilities and Aarti as a New York returned, today’s woman with an offbeat oomph factor about her have been handpicked and tailor-made to personify the characters pertinently.

The humor in the movie is delicate, yet prominent enough to make the audience break into fits of laughter at time. Since, the movie does not have any unsettling element in it; the makers have not pressed much on the hilarious aspect to loose the potency of the characters. Whatever slight comedy the movie holds, it has been aptly surfaced through the character of Shefali who has done a laudable task in doing so.

In a nutshell, Aisha is an entertaining film with a different approach on love sketched on the canvas of the upper-class futility. The costume and style of the characters are indeed a feast for the senses of fashion enthusiasts that dedicates the movie essentially to the young generation. Endowed naturally with her superb sense of style, Sonam Kapoor has faced no difficulty in carrying them modishly. Popped with peppy music in an elegant setting, the movie has a different feel about it which has succeeded in materializing the 18^th century society, even though in an understated manner.