Cast Rani Mukerji, Prithviraj, Amey Wagh, Subodh Bhave, Anita Date
Director Sachin Kundalkar
My Rating 2/5
Rani Mukerji is a brilliant performer. Most will agree with me. And I had been missing her in action for a long time now.
So when I saw the first Trailer of Aiyyaa, I was extremely curious to see the film. After all it looked very different from what she has done till now. And the skimpy skin displaying outfits and those pelvic thrusts... Desperation or Super confidence... I wanted to know more.
Story seemed interesting. A Marathi mulgi falls in love with the tall, dark, handsome south Indian man. While her parents plan her rishta and consequent engagement to a sweet Marathi boy, she is getting deeper and deeper into the fantasy world she has created around her hot hero. So who will get the girl in the end.... Simple na...
But trust Aiyyaa to take simple and then go tripping so hard that the trip turns bad and then refuses to end.
Two hours thirty minute is a duration which makes sure the movie becomes like an over chewed gum that has lost all its flavor and you just want to spit it out. Considering the original story is from one part of the three part story of Sachin Kundalkar's Gandh, it is a very greedy attempt to turn it into this long tale.
In Aiyyaa, the Deshpande's are quite a typical small town middle class Maharashtrian family. They are loud and quirky. Meenakshi (Rani) lives in a fantasy world where she is Madhuri, Sridevi and Juhi... In the real world she is looking for a job and a way to escape the predictable mundane life of a middle class family. Her father is retired and the mother is a loudspeaker with volume turned to maximum. Her Dadi wheels herself around with a dazzling set of gold teeth and her brother Nana is a wastrel taking care of stray dogs. The purpose of the parents is to find a suitable boy for Meenakshi who is quickly hitting the wrong side of 20.
Rani falls in love with Surya, a blood shot eyed tall dark Tamil man who is a student of the Art Department where she works. Her nose leads to him and after that it is a long journey where she follows his smell to his house, a Red light area, around campus... She even steals his T-shirt, while he is totally unaware of her overtures. She even learns Tamil and watches late night Tamilian channels... to impress this quiet type guy. To make matters complicated, one of the guys who comes to see her as a prospective bride, likes her and that very minute the rishta is fixed and an engagement date announced.
From here on, the film is a dragging story of Meenakshi's struggle to get out of this Rishta, follow Surya even more frantically and fool the suitor. Subodh Bhave has played his role as a Maharashtrian middle class earnest boy who loves Deepti Naval and hums Tumko Dekha toh extremely well. The only sane person in this crazy set up. Not to forget Maina, the teeth out, dressed in WTF clothes from Bolly songs who is a character hard to digest by most people. She takes bizarre to another level.
This film is not going to appeal to people who are not exposed to the old marathi comedy films that Ashok Saraf and Sachin used to make... Very loud deliveries and in your face humour. But then even they will get confused with the trying to be experimental and different kind of treatment as the film progresses. Add to it the weak script and some clumsy direction.
For me there were only a few genuinely funny moments, the scene where Rani goes to buy cocaine and the crazy Papad song that happens between her brother and Maina... though it comes out of nowhere, it reminds me of certain moments/characters of Almodovar's films.
But when there is a sketchy story to tell, beyond a point, even a Rani with her sparkling performance can not save it.
Experimental and absurd at times, with a hero who does not speak till the end... A heroine who is otherwise non-stop chatterbox can not even once go up to him and talk.... well, you can only be forgiving till a point.
I did not hate the film, I did not come out with a headache, but the last half hour just made me say "Get over with this already". The big reveal about the hero comes so late in the film and is treated so badly with the worse dialogues I have heard in a long time, that it totally fails to impress.
Despite me truly wanting to like this for Rani, I ended up feeling bad for her to be in this confused film.
The music is fantastic though, and is a relief. Special mention of Rani's thumkas in Aga Bai, she really heats up the screen with her moves in this one.
Watch it if you are a Rani fan though, she is a good reason, the only reason.
Director Sachin Kundalkar
My Rating 2/5
Rani Mukerji is a brilliant performer. Most will agree with me. And I had been missing her in action for a long time now.
So when I saw the first Trailer of Aiyyaa, I was extremely curious to see the film. After all it looked very different from what she has done till now. And the skimpy skin displaying outfits and those pelvic thrusts... Desperation or Super confidence... I wanted to know more.
Story seemed interesting. A Marathi mulgi falls in love with the tall, dark, handsome south Indian man. While her parents plan her rishta and consequent engagement to a sweet Marathi boy, she is getting deeper and deeper into the fantasy world she has created around her hot hero. So who will get the girl in the end.... Simple na...
But trust Aiyyaa to take simple and then go tripping so hard that the trip turns bad and then refuses to end.
Two hours thirty minute is a duration which makes sure the movie becomes like an over chewed gum that has lost all its flavor and you just want to spit it out. Considering the original story is from one part of the three part story of Sachin Kundalkar's Gandh, it is a very greedy attempt to turn it into this long tale.
In Aiyyaa, the Deshpande's are quite a typical small town middle class Maharashtrian family. They are loud and quirky. Meenakshi (Rani) lives in a fantasy world where she is Madhuri, Sridevi and Juhi... In the real world she is looking for a job and a way to escape the predictable mundane life of a middle class family. Her father is retired and the mother is a loudspeaker with volume turned to maximum. Her Dadi wheels herself around with a dazzling set of gold teeth and her brother Nana is a wastrel taking care of stray dogs. The purpose of the parents is to find a suitable boy for Meenakshi who is quickly hitting the wrong side of 20.
Rani falls in love with Surya, a blood shot eyed tall dark Tamil man who is a student of the Art Department where she works. Her nose leads to him and after that it is a long journey where she follows his smell to his house, a Red light area, around campus... She even steals his T-shirt, while he is totally unaware of her overtures. She even learns Tamil and watches late night Tamilian channels... to impress this quiet type guy. To make matters complicated, one of the guys who comes to see her as a prospective bride, likes her and that very minute the rishta is fixed and an engagement date announced.
From here on, the film is a dragging story of Meenakshi's struggle to get out of this Rishta, follow Surya even more frantically and fool the suitor. Subodh Bhave has played his role as a Maharashtrian middle class earnest boy who loves Deepti Naval and hums Tumko Dekha toh extremely well. The only sane person in this crazy set up. Not to forget Maina, the teeth out, dressed in WTF clothes from Bolly songs who is a character hard to digest by most people. She takes bizarre to another level.
This film is not going to appeal to people who are not exposed to the old marathi comedy films that Ashok Saraf and Sachin used to make... Very loud deliveries and in your face humour. But then even they will get confused with the trying to be experimental and different kind of treatment as the film progresses. Add to it the weak script and some clumsy direction.
For me there were only a few genuinely funny moments, the scene where Rani goes to buy cocaine and the crazy Papad song that happens between her brother and Maina... though it comes out of nowhere, it reminds me of certain moments/characters of Almodovar's films.
But when there is a sketchy story to tell, beyond a point, even a Rani with her sparkling performance can not save it.
Experimental and absurd at times, with a hero who does not speak till the end... A heroine who is otherwise non-stop chatterbox can not even once go up to him and talk.... well, you can only be forgiving till a point.
I did not hate the film, I did not come out with a headache, but the last half hour just made me say "Get over with this already". The big reveal about the hero comes so late in the film and is treated so badly with the worse dialogues I have heard in a long time, that it totally fails to impress.
Despite me truly wanting to like this for Rani, I ended up feeling bad for her to be in this confused film.
The music is fantastic though, and is a relief. Special mention of Rani's thumkas in Aga Bai, she really heats up the screen with her moves in this one.
Watch it if you are a Rani fan though, she is a good reason, the only reason.
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