Aisha

Aisha
2010
4/5 stars

In this Bollywood remake of Hollywood's Clueless -- itself an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 classic Emma -- spoiled, rich, entitled Aisha (Sonam Kapoor) flits from project to project, such as animal welfare, art, and matchmaking among her friends.  She meets middle-class Shefali (Amrita Puri), and makes it her new plan to update the small town girl and find her a upper-class husband.  As Aisha meddles, her childhood friend Arjun (Abhay Deol) watches in frustration, trying to give her a guiding hand and encourage her to mature.  Despite Arjun's attempts, Aisha makes a muddle of things, her own love life included.

Aisha's best friend, Pinky, is played by Ira Dubey.  Cyrus Sahukar, Arunoday Singh, and Lisa Haydon round out the main cast.

Though not sticking fully to the plot, Aisha was well adapted from Austen's novel, hitting all the high points that make the book so compelling and entertaining. The movie balanced humor and drama well, and developed the characters nicely.  The music was generally excellent, and the overall filming exceptional.

I've not been impressed with Kapoor previously, but she played Aisha perfectly.  Deol is a strong actor, and was great in his role.  The rest of the cast were convincing as well, with Puri giving a particularly good debut performance.  I was surprised at just how good this movie was, and had it not been for the alcohol and marijuana usage, I would have rated it five stars.

Siggh, Haydon, Dubey, Kapoor, Deol, Puri, Sahukar