Absurd and a confused
mess
Sachin Kundalkar’s Aiyyaa which looked promising enough is
a letdown. Makers of Aiyya were surely confused of its genre. Call it a
romantic comedy, a simple love story or mad out and out comedy, you eventually
realise that the movie fits into neither of the genres. Not that a film must
always fit into a standard genre, but when this confusion directly reflects
onto the script and the screenplay, then boy, it can’t be anything but a
royally rumbling mess!
Menakshi Deshpande (Rani
Mukherji), a middle class Maharshtrian girl of marriageable age is struggling to live life
on her own terms and the friction with her orthodox surrounding aggravates her
desire for independence. And then the confusion between marrying a man of her
choice to a man of her family’s choice follows. To look at it, this confusion,
the clichéd conflict of family Vs personal choice is all done and over with in Indian
cinema. The only novelty of Aiyyaa is
that it shows a woman’s lust and obsession for her love unlike the regular
drill of a guy being charmed by the girl, and Aiyyaa ensures to cash on it. The film has been wisely promoted
with the trailers highlighting the lust of its female lead character in skilfully
choreographed songs. However, very soon does this start to seem overdone and
the viewer eventually becomes weary of watching Menakshi feel her crush’s body odour.
Kundalkar writes over the top,
whacky and unreal characters to create comic moments in the film. But he hardly
succeeds in getting it all right because the scenes are poorly executed. This is
a movie which floats between being a realistic believable film to being a
thorough comedy. The Director chooses a theme with potential but fails to give
it the right shape. Aiyyaa could have been a good piece of work had the story writer
and director Kundalkar kept his intentions right.
A major highlight of the film is
its dances. Choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant grabs the opportunity of
choreographing various styles of dancing all in one film and she makes the most
of it. Music is functional with some catchy tunes. Dreamum Wakepum which has already hit high on the charts is surely Oh la la! inspired but doesn’t fail to amuse the audience. Cinematography is fine.
Prithviraj as Menakshi’s crush,
Surya, doesn’t have much to do. Limited dialogues and a blank face make it a
weak debut for him. Subodh Bhave as a kind hearted fiancé is perfect for his
role. He looks decent, talks decent and dresses simple just what his character
demands. Rani Mukherji as Menakshi is undoubtedly the hero of the film. From
talking fluent Marathi to dancing on a Dremum
Wakeupum to doing a belly dance, Rani excels in all. It’s a Rani Mukherji
film, and watch it if you are her fan.
I am going with a two of five for Sachin Kundalkar’s Aiyya. Out of the
two, one star belongs solely to Rani Mukherji. Watch it for her but that is only if
you are ready to ignore its flaws.
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