Aisha Review

All Sympathies to Sonam Kapoor, who has been chosen by some as Bollywood's latest flavor of the month.

Well, the `pride' to adapt a classic Jane Austen's novel `Emma' into today's Bollywood times comes with a `prejudice' of the writer Devika Bhagat (Bachna Ae Haseeno, Manorama Six Feet Under, and the TV series Mahi Way Way) and the helmer Rajshree Ojha (Chaurahen, and the student flick Badger) who spends more energy on setting up Sonam Kapoor as the next Bollywood charmer than it does taking apart the societal fabric that Austen contemplated in her novel so precisely.

Alas, in the attempt the tall and the beautiful Sonam Kapoor gets overwhelmed by better actors in this `expensive' adaptation.

The Story. Of Course

Aisha (Sonam Kapoor) is a tall and pretty little matchmaker, never seeking her own marital happiness, but delighting in that of others. After having found a suitable match for her aunt, she now wants to pair off her newfound friend, the bhenji type Shefali Tiwari (Amrita Puri), to Randhir Gambhir (Cyrus Sahukar), the man actually in love with Aisha. She transforms Shefali into an urban bimbo as her childhood friend Arjun (Abhay Deol) wants to do is disentangle that web and get Aisha out of an impending sticky mess.

What to look out for?

`Aisha' has couple of charms, notably the idea first of all is sweet and funny. The sequence where the matchmaker finds that the guy chosen for her friend is actually interested in her brings smile on your face.

Shruti Gupte's production design is striking. The styling by Pernia Qureshi and Kunal Rawal is trendy and in sync. Diego Rodriguez's cinematography is eye pleasing. Some nice scenery and the scenes where Abhay and Sonam suffer from jealousy are neatly done.

Sonam Kapoor looks beautiful. Abhay Deol is remarkable in whatever scope he gets. But the majority of the relishes are shared by the supporting cast where Ira Dubey is simply fantastic by her spunky charm. Amrita Puri is very impressive. Cyrus Sahukar is fine. Arunodhay Singh does justice to his role. Lisa Haydon looks beautiful and her side profile somewhat has slight resemblance to Angelina Jolie and she does a fine job as an actor. Anuradha Singh, M.K. Raina, Anand Tiwari,Sameer Malhotra and Vidhushi Mehra all chip in with valuable support.

What not?

Sadly, it becomes necessary to mention that the tall and beautiful Sonam has a charming smile, she was likable in the recent multiplex earner `I Hate Luv Stories' but her limited scope as an actor, lack of scenes by the writer and helmer where her acting talents could have been explored results in the protagonist becoming a drawback of the film and unfortunately that stops the jubilations.

The movie is slightly funny and mostly boring because it doesn't move and becomes boring.

Instead of sticking to the period of the novel, adapting it to the current era was smart and less demanding for the makers but still it fails to connect.

Conclusion: `Aisha' looks beautiful but doesn't disturb your heart beat and your weekend plans.

Rating **