I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

As Good As It Gets

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film opens at a wedding party for the upper crust, leaders of industry, old money, their families. The opulence is clear. The narration proceeds from Aisha, a young woman perhaps not quite of marriageable age. Aisha decides she's is going to be a matchmaker. Her first project is to match the not-beauty-conscious Shefali with some suitable bachelor, say Randhir, who is well-established and thinks rather highly of himself.Aisha and Pinky start the make-over of Shefali. Arjun lets Aisha know he thinks she has gone to far. While setting up Randhir and Shefali, Aisha encounters Dhruv, her aunt's new husband's only son. Arjun seems a bit jealous the next morning. Aisha and Shefali go to the animal rescue center (ARC) where Shefali meets Saurabh, whom she seems to know and like already. This seems out of step with Aisha's plans.The whitewater camping party was a bit of a change from all the ostentatious display of wealth in the initial wedding scene, or the polo match, or the trips to the upscale clothing stores. The single instrument, single voice musical interlude was quite nice. The music without dance was well done. Shefali falls into the river at one point; Arjun jumps in to rescue her.Aisha's interest in Dhruv and in Arjun deepens during this trip. The presence of Arjun's friend Aarti from New York helps this along. Randhir reveals his interest in Aisha, who is quick to discourage it, since this upsets her plans. Shefali wonders why Randhir did not help her out of the river. Randhir confides to Pinky that no one likes him. He bemoans the probability of remaining a bachelor for life; Pinky says, 'join the club.' Great stuff. On the way back, previous events match Pinky and Randhir driving back with just each other. Aisha goes with Dhruv after the bad scene with Randhir.Back at home, Aisha decides to quit matchmaking, and tell Shefali about Randhir. What more could possibly go wrong? Arjun and Aisha reconnect, for a while. Shefali reconnects with Saurabh. The writing is on the wall, but Aisha tries to re-direct things, again.Ah, another party. Dance numbers. Territorial stuff. Arjun slugs Dhruv, then leaves with Aarti. At a formal family party, Arjun brings Aarti. Will Aisha recognize her own interest in Arjun?Randhir and Pinky become engaged; Aisha is surprised that no one consulted her. Shefali wants to get rid of everything that reminds her of Randhir. Aisha thinks of setting up Shefali and Dhruv. Shefali is more interested in Arjun, since he actually stepped up to save her in the river. Shefali finally revolts against Aisha's controlling actions. Aisha and Arjun have another falling out.Dhruv and Aarti get engaged. Aisha tells her father she's in love with Arjun. Her father tells her he will set things up, and that she should go tell Arjun, who's at the party for Aarti and Dhruv. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a bit.------Scores-------Cinematography: 8/10 Focus is too soft for my taste, but most of the camera work looks very good.Sound: 9/10 Fine.Acting: 6/10 Overly dominated by the indifferent Sonam Kapoor; fortunately, many of the good supporting actors cushion this effect.Screenplay: 7/10 It's a piece about a strongly irritating personality, but it's fairly well done.Musical Numbers: 6/10 There is not nearly as much dancing as usual. Included a few moments of rap, which I could have done without.

Aisha, which just came out last summer, is Bollywood's version of a modern Emma. Set in the high society of Delhi, it follows Aisha in her misguided matchmaking attempts. Like Emma and Cher, Aisha is a spoiled rich girl who means well but is really clueless. This one follows the book a little more closely than Clueless did and includes more characters, like the John Knightleys and Jane Fairfax (Aarti). Here, the Miss Taylor character is Aisha's aunt. This version's Knightley (Arjun) is still her childhood friend and brother-in-law's brother, but younger this time. Emma dislikes Aarti, his colleague from America, but she doesn't realize it's because she's jealous. Dhruv (Frank Churchill) is her new uncle's son and they flirt for a little bit but she's just not that into him so he goes for Aarti instead. There is an Elton character, but he's not a pompous jerk at all, just a bit dorky.I thought this version borrowed too many elements from Clueless rather than Emma. Maybe that's inevitable in a modern setting, but I'm not sure. Aisha has a best friend, Pinky, who's only equivalent is Dionne. She disapproves of Pinky's love interest (I won't give away who it is!), like Cher did to Dionne. Like Cher, Aisha loves to shop till she drops. The Harriet Smith character, Shefali, comes from out of town and Aisha gives her a makeover….sounds pretty familiar! Emma never gave Harriet any sort of makeover. She liked Harriet because she was very pretty and sweet already. I dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into it.For anyone hesitant about seeing this film because they don't like Bollywood, I just want to say- don't let that stop you. This movie is very, very Westernized. At least half the dialogue is in English, possibly a bit more. There are some "musical" scenes but the music is Western-style, not the typical Bollywood singing. The characters don't break into song either- rather the music highlights what's going on on screen. These characters behave very much like rich Westerners would (I've read criticisms that it was trying too hard to be American, even) and there are even a couple kissing scenes.I thought this was a good movie, but not great. The production values were obviously very high- everything looked great. Unfortunately, I think that was part of the problem- they focused too much on style over substance. The script needed a bit of work. The whole Jane/Frank story was handled very poorly in particular. Still, it was a fun movie, even though, like Clueless, it's not going to go down as one of my favorites.

Anil Kapoor has gone all the way to reinstate his dearest daughter Sonam, as he presents her in world famous designer costumes, as claimed in the extra shots, when the movie was shown on T.V. channel. i haven't seen Emma of Jane Austen, but the life style of today's hep youth depicted in this movie, is completely western, and mostly much advanced,even for the majority of rich and affluent class of India,or specially the Metros.Firstly, i am not quite convinced, why the veteran, ever green Anil, has chosen to select Emma for Sonam, after she appeared in Saawariya, a flop fantasy of Bhansali, which launched Sonam and Ranbir. Then she acted in a couple of movies, popularized Maskkali song,with her spriteful number, but didn't make any mark ,as an actor to reckon with. And most probably, Aisha would meet with the same fate, though there were mixed reactions from the viewers and the critics.The plot line is hardly substantial, more or less predictable, and lacks grip ; all the couples switch partners, come extreme close physically, but depend on some casual incidents like Shefali falling in water, or Saurabh running to get her sandal in the middle of the traffic,etc. Sonam and Lisa have some beautiful bodies, but as per the western standards; In fact,i was wondering why Sonam is wearing a brassiere, since i failed to see any noticeable bosom ! Did any body else ? Those farm house parties with couples sexily dancing to tango, or the guitarist playing some soulful music, and the girls swaying without any inhibitions, and the last Bhngada number at the time of the multiple weddings, have been tastily filmed, and quite beautiful. But then, the movie has it's own limitations, due to the weak interaction among theses youngsters in search of love, as the attitudes seem to be mostly shallow, and drifting based on how the wind blows. Daddy Anil has tried to present his loving daughter in a leading role of an ultra-modern girl, who is actually more traditional in her ideas about love, marriage, and friendship. She is supposedly generous, by spending more than fifty thousand rupees only dresses and parlors, visiting animal clinics once in a while, etc. Next, though Abhay has done o.k., his voice is his weak point; it clearly lacks depth, and sounds monotonous. Now ,then, Daddy Anil, please come up next,with some real strong good story, and cast poor Sonam opposite an equally charming hero , and avoid making odd pairs. Watchable on a DVD, but easily forgettable.

I thought Aisha was really cute. As an Emma adaptation, I thought it was excellent- they kept all the important elements of the story in, and I saw a few homages to Clueless in there as well. I like that Aisha wasn't 100% likable, as she shouldn't be- she is a girl who's been given everything in life, which doesn't always lend itself to peachy sweetness. Of course she's going to be arrogant! Nobody other than Arjun ever says no to her.Because this film is about a very wealthy girl and her matchmaking pursuits, which do often come across as very superficial and celebrating monetary pleasures, and the characters are very shallow at times (their problems are hardly anything, compared to the very real struggles other Indians face) I can see how some people might not like it- my dad thought it was absolutely ridiculous (his exact quotes were "I can't believe filmmakers would waste celluloid on this trash").However, the essence of the film is to show how silly Aisha's attempts are at forcing what cannot be forced, regardless of how much she tries to manipulate the situation or how much money she throws at it. She is portrayed as an arrogant girl, but we are shown that doing so ultimately alienates her friends from her. Do the filmmakers celebrate what could be labeled as "western excess" in the process of telling her story? Sure, but who doesn't like seeing pretty clothes and hairstyles once in a while? Aisha Kapoor is not one of the "mango people"- who would expect her to be? The music was terrific, and the supporting cast did a wonderful job- especially Amrita Puri, who played the character of Shefali. For those who have seen Clueless, I definitely felt echoes of Brittany Murphy's character Tai through her performance- in a great way. She was really cute! And Ira Dubey played Aisha's sarcastic friend Pinky (Dion in Clueless) to a T, and Abhay Deol and Cyrus Shankar were great as Arjun and Randhir.I personally highly recommend this film if you're looking for a fun, escapist Jane Austen adaptation with great clothes and danceable music.