Aiyya

Been quite a while since Madam Rani graced us with her presence on the silver screen. The last I remember having seen any of Rani was with Dil Bole Hadippa on TV (last week if I remember correctly). Before that, it would have been on that Jet Airways flight earlier this year from Kolkata where she was trying to be nice to Prosenjit da – who I must say was being polite in maintaining a straight face – at best.

Jokes apart, it has been over a year since Rani’s last release was actually in Jan 2011 with No One Killed Jessica. Prior to which she had the debacle that I spoke about earlier in this review. So I was kind of surprised when she vehemently commented on the front page of Mumbai Times yesterday about why people label movies as being – Woman Centric. Just I coincidence I would think that the past 3 movies have been. Thankfully the next one (Talaash) isn’t. May help dispel the belief people have gotten into.

Coming onto more important things like the nearly 3 hours that was probably best described by that 6 letter word that movie goers dread – WASTED. 5 minutes into the movie and you are actually wondering as to why Shri Sachin Kundalkar (the director) would spend so much time in paying his respects to Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi. And where the hell do the garbage trucks fit in. About 10 minutes more and you finally figure out the angle of the garbage trucks but you still cannot figure out the Sridevi and Madhuri angle.

Meenaxi (Rani) – yes it is spelt with an X which doesn’t help the cause much – lives in her own dream world. She is definitely of marriageable age. Looks 25+ but as her parents claim in the matrimonial – she is 22, knows how to cook well and is a homely girl. She is everything but what the ad claims as it turns out. She finds herself a job @ the local Art College where she falls head over heels over Surya (Prithviraj Sukumaran) who is a 25 year old painter studying at the institute.

The story over the next 2 hours is the struggle that Meenaxi goes through to let Surya know about how she feels. The entertainment is supposed to come from her eccentric family of a father who smokes 4 cigarettes simultaneously, a brother who loves dogs, a mother who will go to all extents to get her daughter married and a grandmother who has 32 teeth of gold. Way Way Way Way over the top is the best way to describe it.

While there is a sincere effort to integrate 3 languages – Hindi, Marathi and Tamil – the effort largely falls flat and will make the Maharashtrians and Tamilians cringe. Firstly because there is a Bengali babe trying to speak in Marathi and then there is a Mallu guy who is trying to speak Tamil. The only natural part is Rani’s attempt to speak Tamil and the errors in accent that she makes. Well done on that count.

Otherwise, the humour is forced. The screenplay is almost non existant. The acting across the board is below average except probably Anita Date (Maina) who is Meenaxi’s eccentric colleague with a big thing for John Abraham. Overall, a below par effort. 3 on 10. Don’t bother watching on TV either.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy6op7S1fCo