General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Aisha (आयशा) (2010 film)

Aisha (आयशा) is a 2010 Hindi-language romantic comedy directed by Rajshree Ojha, starring Sonam Kapoor as a wealthy Delhi socialite who plays matchmaker, and Abhay Deol as her disapproving friend Arjun Burman. It is an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma, transposed to contemporary upper-class Delhi.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Release	6 August 2010, Hindi language, India¹
Director / writers	Rajshree Ojha; screenplay by Devika Bhagat, based on Jane Austen's Emma¹^•³
Lead cast	Sonam Kapoor (Aisha Kapoor), Abhay Deol (Arjun Burman), Amrita Puri (Shefali Thakur), Lisa Haydon, Ira Dubey, Cyrus Sahukar¹^•³
Producers	Anil Kapoor, Rhea Kapoor, Ajay Bijli, and Sanjeev K Bijli, under Anil Kapoor Film Company and PVR Pictures¹
Music	Amit Trivedi, with lyrics by Javed Akhtar; playback singers included Ash King, Anushka Manchanda, and Nikhil D'Souza¹
Runtime / budget	126 minutes; estimated budget ₹140,000,000³
Reception	IMDb 5.1/10 from about 4,700 votes; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 31% from 4 reviews³^•⁴

Spoilers

Plot and source

The film follows Aisha Kapoor, a rich young woman from South Delhi whose hobby is matchmaking. After successfully arranging the marriage of her aunt Chitra to Colonel Raghuvendra Singh, she takes on a new project: Shefali Thakur, a naive young woman from the smaller town of Bahadurgarh, whom Aisha tries to remake in her own image and pair with her childhood friend Randhir Gambhir. Her meddling produces chaos and bitterness, and she damages her own relationships, including with her neighbor Arjun Burman, who tells her to stop interfering in other people's lives.³^•⁴

Director Rajshree Ojha said she blended Austen's Emma into the story of a contemporary girl whose constant matchmaking leads to comic situations, with Abhay Deol cast as the Mr Knightley figure.² She explained that she found the story relevant to Indian society while reading it and wanted to make a film about urban relationships rather than a comedy as such.⁵ She also said the film is not women-centric despite its woman protagonist.⁵

Production

A long development. Ojha reported that it took her about four and a half years to find a producer; she pitched the film around production offices, and producers told her to secure the lead actor first. Sonam Kapoor was the first actor she approached, and Anil Kapoor agreed to produce after she pitched the film to his daughter.⁶^•⁵ She chose Kapoor without having seen her acting work, deciding on a young face from photographs shortly after Saawariya released.⁵ She dealt mainly with Rhea Kapoor during production and described Anil Kapoor as non-interfering; the shoot lasted about 67 days.⁷ She called the Harriet character, played by Amrita Puri, the most difficult to cast.⁶

Filming took place in Delhi.³ The crew included cinematographer Diego Rodriguez, editor A. Sreekar Prasad, and production designer Shruti Gupte.¹

Relationship to earlier adaptations

A scholarly review in the BSECS Criticks series observes that Aisha is indebted to the earlier screen adaptations of Emma, particularly Amy Heckerling's Clueless (1995). It borrows the protagonist's voice-over commentary, a shot of her ineptly driving a cute car, a best friend with a silly name (Dionne in Clueless, Pinky in Aisha), the scene in which the Emma character is stranded in a remote neighborhood at night and rescued by the Mr Knightley figure, the makeover of the Harriet character through exercise and shopping, and the protagonist's clothes closet. The review also notes the prominent placement of the film's brand and make-up partners in the opening credits, suggesting the title character has as much in common with Cher Horowitz as with Emma Woodhouse.⁸ An academic essay on the film addresses how it adapts Austenian social concerns to contemporary upper-middle-class urban life in India while negotiating the competing influence of Austen and prior global adaptations.⁹

Reception

Critical response was divided. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 2 out of 5, writing that it makes the viewer wait too long for its few good bits and that patchy writing and direction make it feel like a string of episodes.¹⁰ The New Indian Express rated it 2.5 out of 5 and called it a competent, if not fabulous, Indianized version of Emma.¹¹ Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com gave it 3 out of 5.⁴ By contrast, The Times of India gave it 4 out of 5, calling it one of the most exquisitely crafted films to come down Bollywood's boulevard in the non-action genre.¹² Kaveree Bamzai in India Today described it as mapping Delhi's luxe lifeline, an extended exercise in brand placement from L'Oreal to Häagen-Dazs.¹³ On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a Tomatometer of 31% based on 4 reviews.⁴

A Common Sense Media review called it a fun Bollywood Emma adaptation, praising Kapoor's portrayal of South Delhi high society and the supporting performances of Ira Dubey, Lisa Haydon, and Cyrus Sahukar, while noting drinking and drug content.¹⁴

Box office and awards

IMDb lists an estimated budget of ₹140,000,000 and a gross worldwide figure of $146,161.³ The film received 1 win and 10 nominations in total according to IMDb; a Wikidata-based catalog record attributes a Golden Kela Award win in 2011 to Sonam Kapoor.³^•¹⁵

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026