Over the years, the Tamil & Telugu film industry has been coming up by leaps & bounds to match the scripting excellence of Malayalam. But unfortunately the way Bollywood looked at the South hasn't changed much as its still the pelvic thrusts and buxom heaves that appeals to them. This is quite evident since "Dabaang" released as there has been flooding of films with South Indian masala considered as an integral ingredient for success. This week we have National Award winning director, Sachin Kundalkar's "Aiyaa" which treads a similar path albeit in a different manner. The promos were loud & over the top, but will the film finds its feet???

Meenakshi Deshpande (Rani Mukherjee) belongs to a middle class cranky Marathi household which could said to be a desi version of the Adam's family. Actually Meenakshi herself is a drama queen with her melodramatic screeches & frequent escapades into her fantasy filmi world. After having landed the job of a librarian, she falls for the handsome South Indian hunk, Surya (Prithviraj) as he smells good. Now was it the pheromones or AXE??? I seriously have no idea but she starts following him everywhere like Mary's lamb in the nursery rhyme. At the same time, her parents fixes her alliance with Madhav (Subodh Bhave) & she is now torn between the two choices. So will she follow her heart or brain???

Sachin Kundalkar's ingress into Bollywood has attracted quite a lot of attention considering that he is one of the most respected names in the Marathi film industry. However, it hasnt been all smooth sailing for Sachin as the film doesnt come across as a cohesive piece of art. There are definitely many sequences which evokes laughter but those are far & few with a wafer thin plot which drags along for much of the second half. The saving grace however is the cast who does an impressive job but then without a credible script there is a limit to how much the cast can augur the fate of the film. Amit Trivedi's music is already on top of the charts with "Dreamsum Wakepum" & "Aga Bhai" ruling the roost. However, I dont quite endorse the lyrics & Vaibhavi's choreography of the former though she has done an impressive job in the latter.

Just as I had mentioned previously all the actors have done their parts well & it all starts with the protagonist, Rani Mukherjee. She has done total justice to her role which required her to be quirky & loud. It's really unfortunate that Prithviraj hardly had any dialogues until the climax but when he does he exudes confidence & gives a praise worthy performance, not to forget the hard work he has put into chiseling his torso. As for the rest, each of them deserves a pat especially Nirmiti Sawant (Meenakshi's mother).

Verdict: 2012 has been the year of heroine centric films & "Aiyaa" is no different with the hero reduced to an object of lust & fantasy. However, Rani hasnt been hot property for quite some time & to add to that the wafer thin plot with some quirky characters wont quite appeal to the audience as it seems more like an extended version of AXE advertisement. So in all likelihood it is going to sink without much of a trace. In short, the producers & the audience will be saying "Iooooo..." for the same reason!!!

Rating: 1.75/5

Regards...Ben