Aish Movie Online Review

Story :
Aisha Kapoor (Sonam Kapoor) is the quintessential uptown girl from super rich South Delhi. She's smart, sassy and intelligent and spends her time with usual cosmo concerns: animal rights, art exhibitions, weekend getaways, polo matches, shopaholic sprees....But more than all this, her pet obsession seems to be matchmaking.

After having found a suitable match for her aunt, she now wants to pair off her newfound friend, downmarket, small town-ish Shefali Tiwari (Amrita Puri), to Randhir Gambhir (Cyrus Sahukar), the man who actually is all eyes for Aisha alone. But before she can do that, she must transform the Haryanvi behenji into an uber chic style diva like herself. Indeed, a difficult project that gets even more tough because childhood buddy, Arjun Burman (Abhay Deol), seems hell-bent on scuttling all her `new projects' and censuring her `social work' as meddlesome mess. Does Arjun's opinion actually matter? Are marriages made in heaven? Can love be stage-managed? Good questions!

Review :
Take a back bench, Carrie Bradshaw and Co. Indian movielore has its own city slicker chicks who are definitely sweeter, sexier and more svelte than all of the Sex and the City girlie brigade put together. What's more important is the fact that their concerns are soooooo recognisable, ekdum familiar, and absolutely rib-tickling. So much so, they strike an instant chord with any and everybody -- chick and chico -- who has undergone the metropolitan mating game, complete with its distinct social divide between the two distinct types: the uptown dudes and dudettes and the downtown behenjis and bhaiyyas!

Producer Rhea Kapoor and director Rajshree Ojha's Aisha is a charmer for so many reasons. First and foremost, the film completely dazzles you with its style quotient. Truly, this must be one of the most exquisitely crafted films to sashay down Bollywood's boulevard in the non-action genre (we've had a lot of stylish action films, beginning with Satya). Every bit of costume, every incidental accessory and every tone of colour has been carefully co-ordinated to create a never-ending canvas that reminds you of a walk in a museum, brimming over with objects d 'arts. From Manish Arora, Anamika Khanna to Chanel and Ralph Lauren, Aisha and her friends just leave you gurgling with glee as they balance the bizarre with the beautiful. And yet, this fashion extravaganza never seems like a hollow catwalk. Kudos to stylist Pernia Qureshi and costume designer Kunal Rawal who create a whole new aesthetics for desi cinema. It's extremely difficult translating the aesthetics of an Austen novel on to the big screen, something which auteur director Ang Lee successfully managed in Sense and Sensibility. But when you try and translate Austen's early 19th century England into saddi Dilli and Manhattan-like Mumbai, it's got to be tricky. But hey, no hiccups for our stylists here. The transition is silken and smooth.

But the style quotient works only because the girls are such strong flesh and blood characters and carry it off so beautifully. Sonam Kapoor's super snob and spoilt brattish Aisha is actually quite adorable, even as Ira Dubey's best friend act as Pinky Bose stands out with its supercilious splendour. The duo are absolutely riveting as they breathe life into the archetypal `super bi**ches' who, if you scratch the glossy surface, are gooey and good-hearted go-getters too. They too have the same fears and the same dreams as the simpleton, Shefali who falls into their trap and becomes their latest victim and pastime. In a seminal scene, the three girls put their heads together, wonder and giggle whether they will have to die single. Sweet! Add to this the fourth diva, New-York returned, white-collared, corporate yuppie, Aarti (Lisa Haydon) and you have a female foursome that literally carries the film on its fair and fragile shoulders.

But all this womanly business doesn't leave the men behind in any way. All the male characters have substance and soul, including Sonam's dahling of a dad (MK Raina) who first berates her on her exorbitant credit card bill and then later, shares a bowl of gajar ka halwa with her while dishing out some delicious homilies on love and life. Leading the men's brigade of course is Abhay Deol who creates Jane Austen's Mr Knightley to Sonam's Emma Woodhouse with an irresistible charm that is all his dimpled own. Completely in command, charmingly censorious and so much in love, he's the essence of Austen's heroes. But the rest of the boys -- Cyrus Sahukar, Arunoday Singh and Anand Tiwari -- aren't far behind.

Watch out also for Javed Akhtar's and Amit Trivedi's peppy music track which sends you out humming `gal mitthi mitthi bol', as you savour your money's worth.

Sweet love, substantial performances, super fun, slick 'n stylish, Aisha is a-ha stuff.

I Hate Luv Storys - Review

Cast: Imran Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Sameer Dattani, Sameer Soni, Bruna Abdulla, Ketaki Dave, Anju Mahendroo

Director: Punit Malhotra

The first thing that attracts you to I Hate Luv Storys is its title. Let's face it, we adore love stories... at least I do. We idolise the characters decades after the movies have come and gone. The songs that come on our lips instantly while playing a game of antakshri are romantic songs as well. In fact, the biggest moneyspinners, let's face it, have been love stories, right? So how can we 'hate' a love story?



No matter how mushy or cheesy they are, we find love stories irresistible because of the tremendous rush we experience at the end. Some of us are big suckers for love sagas, aren't we? That's precisely the reason why this title (I Hate Luv Storys) nagged me no end every time I watched the promo of this film.

Helmed by first-timer Punit Malhotra, I Hate Luv Storys is aypical candyfloss romance with a story that's not jaw-droppingly different, let me forewarn you. But if you're young at heart or a diehard and hopeless romantic, you'd lap up I Hate Luv Storys like a kid laps up his fav candy.

Now to the vital question: If I Hate Luv Storys rests on a thin plot, what is it that drives the film for the next two hours? My answer to that is, four factors: The fresh pairing and chemistry between the lead cast, tremendous youth appeal, terrific music and magical moments that make a love story work.

Final word? The makers have never claimed that I Hate Luv Storys will change the face of Hindi cinema. Nor did they ever claim that I Hate Luv Storys will change the mindset of the viewer towards romantic films. So let's sit back and enjoy the fun ride. This one's by the youth, for the youth. It's this age-group that would come out smiling, cheering and rooting for this prem kahani.

'I hate love stories' is the maxim Jay (Imran Khan) lives by. But as an assistant director to Veer (Samir Soni), the most famous romantic film-maker of Indian film industry, Jay has little option but to live with larger than life, glossy, cinematic love on an everyday basis. Things only get worse when he is made to work under the new production designer on the film, Simran (Sonam Kapoor), with whom he shares the strangest first encounter.

Simran loves love stories, so much so that even her life has begun to resemble one. With her ideal job and the perfect boyfriend Raj (Samir Dattani), she lives a blissful, dreamy life. One that is rudely interrupted by Jay's cynicism.

Writer-director Punit Malhotra wins Round 1 by casting the right actors in the roles of Jay and Simran. In fact, it wouldn't be erroneous to state that the casting is the trump card of this film. But what Punit ought to know by now is that every story ought to have a strong grip to keep your attention arrested for the next two hours. In this case, the film rests on a waferthin plot, with not much movement in the story in the first hour. In fact, the story barely moves in the first part.

Yes, post-interval, the story does gather momentum and though you're well aware of the journey and what the culmination will be like, you don't mind the ride because you can't take your eyes off Imran and Sonam. Also, a love story works if one pines for the on-screen lovers and in I Hate Luv Storys, you genuinely want the duo to sort things out, which means that you're involved in their lives. Even the finale - it won't be fair on my part to reveal how this movie concludes - may be filmy or cliched, but let's face it, it works.

Let me draw parallels with another love story, also starring Imran Khan. Recall the finale of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, which had Imran riding a horse to reach his sweetheart (Genelia) at the airport. I distinctly recall, a lot of people found the end bizzare and rightly so. Can you imagine anyone galloping to the international airport in Mumbai? But I was truly surprised when I learnt that the youth were whistling and clapping all through. The finale is different here (no horses, please) and you exit the auditorium with a smile on your face.

Director Punit Malhotra is heavily inspired by Mills & Boon novels and several Bollywood films... love stories all. But like I pointed out earlier, Punit needs to polish his writing skills, although the director in him bails the writer out and takes the film to a different level. The sequences between Imran and Sonam are well penned, but the ones between Sonam and her parents or Sonam and Samir Dattani are half-baked. Directorially, Punit shows super-confidence in moulding the two actors in their respective parts, so much so that you get sucked into Jay and Simran's world after a while.