For, 'Aisha' comes across on screen as a meddlesome matchmaker whose only aim in life seems to be matrimony. The story in a nutshell is about how her belief that matches are made by matchmakers is changed once she gets bitten by the love bug.
The movie borrows heavily from Hollywood hits, not to speak of a likeness to several airy-fairy characters played by yesteryear stars like Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman in countless male dominated movies of the 1980s.
1. The movie offers a fizzy and frothy ride through most of the first half with Sonam Kapoor and her buddy Ira Dubey making quite a loveable pair. Their rich spoilt brat and best buddy act do raise a few laughs with both coming across as completely daft.
2. Set in south Delhi, the movie showcases the type of people that one is likely to encounter in the malls around Greater Kailash or South Extension. There is a certain peppy feel to the movie as the characters go about their business early on.
3. The movie starts off in much the same way as Ranbir Kapoor's 'Wake up Sid' and Imran Khan's 'Jaane Tu...' did many months ago. This keeps you going for first four hour or so, before things begin to slacken as the plot unfortunately fails to thicken!
4. The movie's most riveting performances come from television star Cyrus Sahukar as Randhir Gambhir who brings incredible coming timing to his crazy but adorable role and Amrita Puri who plays the Aisha's friend Shefali, the small town "behenji" for whom her pal seeks a match.
5. Abhay Deol is actually wasted in the movie though despite having nothing much to do apart from warning Aisha to stay away from her meddlesome ways, comes up with a performance that is earnest as expected and downplayed amidst a cast that goes over the top.
1. For starters, the director introduces too much of the fizz for her own good as it soon fizzles out. And that is precisely what happens after the first 30 minutes or so when Aisha and gang spend most of the times in parties and trying to "fix" alliances.
2. The character of Aisha is so full of fun and froth that it fails to make the transition when the movie shifts gear from fun and frolic to more serious matters of the heart. And poor Sonam Kapoor fails prey to this flaw as she fails to convince in the second half.
3. The movie tends to drag midway as the director loses her way in trying to transition her protagonist from a scatter-brained spoilt kid to a mature lady. This is where someone like Ayan Mukherjee scored in 'Wake Up Sid' which shows Ranbir transitioning from an overgrown teen to a man.
4. Though not a complete rip-off, the movie's theme borrows heavily from the 1995 Alicia Silverstone-Stacey Dash starrer 'Clueless'. The similarities between Cher Horowitz (Silverstone) and Aisha are too close to escape the notice of movie buffs.
5. It seems the director intended Aisha to be wild and whacky, but turned her into an absolutely shallow person. And that is also probably what's wrong with the movie... it is shallow. Getting the actors to mouth profanities and throwing in the yuppy "whatevers" is the director's idea of modern day south Delhi!
My Verdict: Rajshree and her ensemble women cast tried to do a female version of 'Wake Up Sid' that sort of puts you to sleep by the time it gets to the 'Pretty Woman' type climax!
