# Aiyyaa
**Aiyyaa** (अइय्या) is a 2012 Hindi-language romantic comedy directed and written by Sachin Kundalkar, starring [Rani Mukerji](https://www.edgepedia.org/rani-mukerji) as Meenakshi Deshpande, a Marathi woman with an ultra-sensitive sense of smell who falls for a South Indian art student, Surya, played by [Prithviraj Sukumaran](https://www.edgepedia.org/prithviraj-sukumaran)[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255934/) • [2](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/aiyyaa). Produced by [Anurag Kashyap](https://www.edgepedia.org/anurag-kashyap), Guneet Monga, and Vikram Malhotra, it was released in India on 12 October 2012[3](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aiyyaa/cast/). The film marked Kundalkar's debut feature in Hindi and the Bollywood debut of the Malayalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran[4](https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/pN1mMv5kVDpiH0cEl7SP2L/Film-Review--Aiyyaa.html) • [2](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/aiyyaa).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 12 October 2012 (India, wide theatrical release)[3](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aiyyaa/cast/) |
| Director and writer | Sachin Kundalkar, in his debut Hindi feature[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255934/) • [4](https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/pN1mMv5kVDpiH0cEl7SP2L/Film-Review--Aiyyaa.html) |
| Lead cast | Rani Mukerji as Meenakshi Deshpande; Prithviraj Sukumaran as Surya[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255934/) |
| Producers | Anurag Kashyap, Guneet Monga, and Vikram Malhotra; banners Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and AKFPL[3](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aiyyaa/cast/) |
| Music | Amit Trivedi; playback singers included Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Monali Thakur[3](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aiyyaa/cast/) |
| Runtime | Reported as 2h 26m by Apple TV and Rotten Tomatoes, 2h 28m by Bollywood Hungama, and 152 min by IMDb[5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/aiyyaa/umc.cmc.3spaejgsar0xz3235s910f37h) • [3](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aiyyaa/cast/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255934/) |
| Reception | IMDb 4.4/10 from about 2,300 votes; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 32% from a single counted review[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255934/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aiyyaa) |
| Box office | $58,703 worldwide gross recorded by Box Office Mojo, all international (United Kingdom $49,667; New Zealand $9,036)[7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2255934/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Meenakshi Deshpande is a Marathi girl from a conservative family who lives in a Bollywood-style fantasy world, dancing and enacting her favorite actresses Sridevi, Madhuri, and Juhi[8](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/aiyyaa) • [9](https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/anurag-kashyap-converted-short-film-into-aiyyaa-627958). She has an ultra-sensitive sense of smell. Once employed at a nearby college library, she picks up a delightful fragrance drifting around her, which turns out to come from Surya, a good-looking and mysterious student of art[2](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/aiyyaa). Meanwhile her eccentric family arranges her marriage to Madhav, a kind and sensible man, and Meenakshi is torn between her parents' choice and following her nose toward the stranger[2](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/aiyyaa).
Sources describe Surya's background differently: Moviebuff, Filmibeat, and Rotten Tomatoes call him a Tamil artist or art student[2](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/aiyyaa) • [10](https://www.filmibeat.com/bollywood/movies/aiyyaa.html) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aiyyaa), while NDTV's report on the film's launch describes him as a Malayali man[9](https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/anurag-kashyap-converted-short-film-into-aiyyaa-627958).
## Production
**Origin.** Producer Anurag Kashyap said he first met Kundalkar when the actress [Sonali Kulkarni](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonali-kulkarni), with whom he performed the play *S-S-Sarla*, showed him a short film by Kundalkar; he liked it enough to propose expanding it into a feature[9](https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/anurag-kashyap-converted-short-film-into-aiyyaa-627958). It was on Kundalkar's insistence that Rani Mukerji was cast in the lead: when Kashyap asked which actress he wanted, Kundalkar answered "someone like Rani Mukerji"[9](https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/anurag-kashyap-converted-short-film-into-aiyyaa-627958). Kashyap said Kundalkar and Mukerji spent two-and-a-half years on the film[9](https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/anurag-kashyap-converted-short-film-into-aiyyaa-627958).
**Relationship to Gandha.** India Today's review describes Aiyyaa as "an extended rehash of one of three stories that comprised Kundalkar's 2009 Marathi film, Gandha (smell)"[11](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/movie-review-aiyyaa-118544-2012-09-27). The Mumbai Film Festival catalog lists Gandha as a 2008 film in Kundalkar's filmography and notes it won the National Award for Best Screenplay, the first Marathi film to receive that award[12](https://mami.mumbaifilmfestival.com/media/1276/mami_festival_catalogue-2016.pdf). Asked by [The Indian Express](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-indian-express) whether Aiyyaa was a remake of Gandha, Kundalkar said the idea was his own and that he wrote the script at a phase of his life when he wanted to express his thoughts in precisely that manner[13](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/aiyyaa-going-wakda/).
**Preparation.** Mukerji, playing a Marathi woman, learned Marathi and the body language of Maharashtrians from Kundalkar, rehearsing to get the dialect right; she called him her biggest inspiration[14](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/rani-mukerji-learns-marathi-for-aiyyaa/articleshow/16297966.cms).
## Style
The title is a Marathi exclamation that Mint translated variously as "Omigod", "What just happened?", and "I can't believe my ears"[4](https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/pN1mMv5kVDpiH0cEl7SP2L/Film-Review--Aiyyaa.html). Mint described the film as a blend of Marathi farcical theater, Hindi formula films, Tamil movie songs, the absurdist comedies of [Emir Kusturica](https://www.edgepedia.org/emir-kusturica), and the neo-melodramas of Pedro Almodovar, and noted Kundalkar's statement that, without Mukerji, the characters would have been more controlled and inhibited[4](https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/pN1mMv5kVDpiH0cEl7SP2L/Film-Review--Aiyyaa.html). Kundalkar told The Indian Express that he borrowed the loud style from popular Marathi films and his own language, weaving the pattern of a loud Maharashtrian family in a dramatic zone[13](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/aiyyaa-going-wakda/). The tagline was "Go wakda" (Go crooked/wacky)[2](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/aiyyaa).
## Cast and crew
The supporting cast includes Nirmiti Sawant as Aai, Meenakshi's mother; Jyoti Subhash as Dadi, her grandmother; Satish Alekar as Baba, her father; [Subodh Bhave](https://www.edgepedia.org/subodh-bhave) as Madhav; Amey Wagh as Nana, her brother; and Anita Date-Kelkar as Mynah[15](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/aiyyaa/cast/2030358326/). [Amit Trivedi](https://www.edgepedia.org/amit-trivedi) composed the music, with lyrics by [Amitabh Bhattacharya](https://www.edgepedia.org/amitabh-bhattacharya) and choreography by Vaibhavi Merchant; Amalendu Chaudhary was the cinematographer and Abhijit Deshpande the editor[3](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aiyyaa/cast/) • [15](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/aiyyaa/cast/2030358326/). IMDb trivia notes that the song "Aga Bai" shows some influence from "Magic Fly" by Space (1977)[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255934/).
## Reception
The film received largely negative reviews. India Today's critic Vinayak Chakravorty called the plot hackneyed and the film "unbearably stretched-out"[11](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/movie-review-aiyyaa-118544-2012-09-27). Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave it 1.5/5 in a 2019 retrospective review, writing that Kundalkar's Marathi Gandha "did this infinitely better"[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aiyyaa). IMDb records a 4.4/10 rating from about 2,300 votes[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255934/), and Rotten Tomatoes shows a 32% Tomatometer from one counted review[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aiyyaa).
Box office figures differ by source. [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) records a worldwide gross of $58,703, entirely international, with $49,667 from the United Kingdom and $9,036 from New Zealand[7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2255934/), while Filmibeat lists a box office figure of 66.3 million (6.63 crore)[10](https://www.filmibeat.com/bollywood/movies/aiyyaa.html). Audience opinion has been more divided than the reviews: some viewers on Rotten Tomatoes and Reddit have described it as a quirky, underrated film with strong music, citing songs such as "Aga Bai" and "Dreamum Wakeupum"[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aiyyaa).
## Availability
The film has circulated through streaming and digital rental. It was added to Netflix in India and Canada in 2017, removed in 2020, re-added in July 2020, and removed from Canadian Netflix on 1 July 2025[16](https://can.newonnetflix.info/info/70261058). As of the most recent checks in the sources, it can be rented or bought on Apple TV in several countries and streams on Prime Video in India[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aiyyaa) • [17](https://technosports.co.in/entertainment/title/aiyyaa-2012/).
## References
1. [Aiyyaa (2012), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255934/)
2. [Aiyyaa on Moviebuff.com](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/aiyyaa)
3. [Aiyyaa Cast & Crew, Bollywood Hungama](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aiyyaa/cast/)
4. [Excess baggage, Mint (12 October 2012)](https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/pN1mMv5kVDpiH0cEl7SP2L/Film-Review--Aiyyaa.html)
5. [Aiyyaa, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/aiyyaa/umc.cmc.3spaejgsar0xz3235s910f37h)
6. [Aiyyaa, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aiyyaa)
7. [Aiyyaa (2012), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2255934/)
8. [Aiyyaa streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/aiyyaa)
9. [Anurag Kashyap converted short film into Aiyyaa, NDTV (7 September 2012)](https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/anurag-kashyap-converted-short-film-into-aiyyaa-627958)
10. [Aiyyaa (2012), Filmibeat](https://www.filmibeat.com/bollywood/movies/aiyyaa.html)
11. [Movie review: Aiyyaa, India Today](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/movie-review-aiyyaa-118544-2012-09-27)
12. [MAMI Festival Catalogue 2016, Mumbai Film Festival](https://mami.mumbaifilmfestival.com/media/1276/mami_festival_catalogue-2016.pdf)
13. [Aiyyaa: Going wakda, The Indian Express (19 October 2012)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/aiyyaa-going-wakda/)
14. [Rani Mukerji learns Marathi for Aiyyaa, Times of India (7 September 2012)](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/rani-mukerji-learns-marathi-for-aiyyaa/articleshow/16297966.cms)
15. [Aiyyaa - Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/aiyyaa/cast/2030358326/)
16. [Is 'Aiyyaa' on Netflix in Canada?, New On Netflix Canada](https://can.newonnetflix.info/info/70261058)
17. [Aiyyaa (2012) on Prime Video in India, TechnoSports](https://technosports.co.in/entertainment/title/aiyyaa-2012/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 2010s › Hindi films of 2012*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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