Aisha

Director: Rajshree Ojha

Starring: Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Amrita Puri, Ira Dubey, Cyrus Shahukar, Arunoday Singh

Couples sip on champagne; tinkle and toast to good health; wear sparkling whites (inauspicious colour for Hindus) at weddings of middle-aged pairs. Sunday afternoons are reserved for fancy hats at the races. I’ve never quite socialised in these imagined circles. But then perhaps, the filmmakers know better. Either way, the disclaimer is necessary. Folks in the capital’s New Friends or Defence Colony (make that ‘klony’) pass off for British aristocracy of early 19th century. And somehow it seems the New York based Mira Nair was far more organically rooted to New Delhi’s upper classes, Punjabis, and their boisterous chatter (Monsoon Wedding), than the affected Mumbai filmmakers here.

Since all great literature is behind us, the film borrows from Jane Austen’s novel Emma, in about the same way Gurinder Chadha had unbearably adapted Pride And Prejudice, set in present day Amritsar (Bride And Prejudice). If there’s any consolation, this one’s better put. Sonam Kapoor plays the title role. She heads a sisterhood, a gang of three girls, if you will, who are so luckless, loveless, sexless, they make being single, beyond a certain age, a city disease. The girls are convinced they’ll never find a suitable boy to settle down with. The heroine knows her hero (Abhay Deol, dependable as ever, just wasting his time on this one). Her friends know their mates as well. Each stereotype finds another. Young Aisha plays the unnecessary matchmaker.

Somehow the internal dilemmas true for the village girl Emma in the novel, I’m told, don’t come through for this lead character in the film. This is not a surprise. There are things books can convey that movies needn’t even attempt. The main conflict remains yet the only one possible in urban romances these days: how friends turn lovers eventually (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa, I Hate Luv Storys etc). Still, as the camera constantly closes in to capture detailed shots of pencil stilettos, Ferragamo signage at stores, and L'Oreal’s nail polish of obvious shades, I suppose, female ‘aspiration’ – that confused term from marketing – is adequately fulfilled.

Young Delhi boys and girls cart their Honda CRV and Volkswagen Beetle off to go camping, shopping, doping, white water rafting, bumming around with the beach-ball. The atmospherics is complete. The intentions aren’t off the mark. You may like to voyeuristically share a rich experience (with the film’s cast, or crew, in this case). You only wish this sense of outdoor adventure could conceal the blandness of the drama within. And the complete blah for dialogue that get exchanged in flawless Hinglish. The vibes remain cold. Pairs rotate in circles. The same bummers meet over and over again, with little to say, or do. Littler makes sense. Or is even meant to.

You just know it when a film entirely set around a girl – a chick flick, as they say isn’t quite working for you. This is when a guy, an odd comedian Cyrus Sahukar, comes across as by far the most entertaining fellow around. Now he’s funny. For whatever that’s worth. To figure the worth of everything else, check on the price tags at your nearest mall.

Aisha directed by Rajshree Ojha is a light hearted romantic flick targeted at the youth. The film has been produced under the Anil Kapoor Films Company banner and stars Abhay Deol, Sonam Kapoor, Amrita Puri, Ira Dubey, Cyrus Sahukar, Arunoday Singh and Anand Tiwari. Aisha as the title quite obviously suggests is about Aisha (played by Sonam Kapoor), a simple girl who is quite interfering when it comes to relationships of her friends. Arjun (Abhay Deol) always tries to make sure Aisha minds her own business. Pinky, Shefali and Randhir Gambhir are Aisha's friends and she tries to ensure that they do what she feels is best for them. Arjun sarcastically and indirectly gives everyone, including Aisha, the right advice. Will Aisha have it her way or will she realize her mistake before it's too late?

What works for Aisha is the uncomplicated nature of the story line. The film is pretty straight forward and easy to understand. The emotions, although later towards the second half, works. Abhay and Sonam have limited screen space; the film is more about Aisha and her friends than Arjun and her. Hence the scope for chemistry too is limited. The costumes and styling is modern and very appealing. Sonam looks stunning throughout. The music by Amit Trivedi is outstanding.

The film though is very slow paced, the director has little to say - the film survives entirely on dialogues, romantic moments and the actors to carry it through - and feels way too long even though the runtime is just around 125 minutes. Expect quite a few yawns in between. The director to his credit has extracted excellent performances from the entire cast. Starting with Sonam Kapoor who is fabulous in the title role. She expresses very well and carries off those well-designed costumes with grace. Abhay Deol is his natural self in a not-so meaty role. Amrita Puri is a special talent, she's outstanding. Ira Dubey is good. Cyrus Sahukar with a funny name does his part well. Arunoday Singh looks the role. All others are good.

To sum things up, Aisha works to an extent. The slow pace is the films major flaw. Would recommend waiting for the DVD. Sonam Kapoor in a 'tailor'-made role (where more moolah seems to have been spent on tailoring her chic outfits than on exploring the locations, sound sights scents and, yes, sense of this embarrassing world of excessive self-preening) gets the Jane Austen character right. Quite a leap for the actress. When she had played the confused lover-girl in "Saawariya", Sonam had imposed her own natural-born confusions on the character - rendering it shaky and disembodied.

In "Aisha", Sonam is far more in control of her character's misguided emotional compulsions. The fact that the young actress knows this label-centric designer world of chic shenanigans so well, helps Sonam master and contour her character's art of self-deception in a way the original author of the character would have approved. Sonam's world harks back to Jane Austen's giddy-headed British gentry class where match-making was not an idle chatter. It was religion. When placed in the neo-rich spiced-up politically-charged atmosphere of Delhi, Jane Austen's characters seem to come alive in unexpected spurts of sassy splendour and unbridled joie de vivre. You can't help laugh at these young, often-aimless, people's self-importance.

"Aisha" is a two-hour celebration of pre-nuptial rituals. Though no one says it, every girl in the film wants only one thing. And it isn't necessarily love, but somewhere close. The bristle and bustle of Delhi comes alive through the slender intellectual faculties of the protagonists. Let's not forget that Jane Austen had applied great intellectual strength to her frail and shallow people. "Aisha" converts Austen's world into a frail feisty frolicsome fashion fiesta shot with an empowering affection for the natural light that bathes these somewhat affected people. The cinematography by Diego Rodriguez and especially the songs and background music by Amit Trivedi create a multi-hued skyline in this saga of sophomore socialites, their loves, lovers and love tattle.

Debutante director Rajshree Ojha gets into this world of titillating trivia and designer dreams with a wink and smile that goes a long way in building a showcase around these metropolitan mannequins on a single-minded match-making prowl. The casting is as dead-on as it can get. While the guys Abhay Deol, Cyrus Sahukar and Arunoday Singh play the Brain, Nerd and Hunk with absolute relish, it's the girls who keep you chuckling and tch-tch-ing. Neha Dubey and debutante Amrita Puri put in pitch-perfect performances as sahelis bullied into alliances that seem manipulated on earth rather than arranged in heaven. They have a bright future ahead, single or not.

But the film belongs to Sonam Kapoor, make no mistake of that. She makes the best of a rather rare opportunity for an Indian leading lady to be part of a Bollywood film that salutes Victorian mores and Delhi's elitist affectations in one clean cool sweep. Engaging and endearing - Aisha makes you wonder if there's anything more important in the world than finding the right match.