Aiyyaa Reviews – Rani Mukherjee shines in an average film!

Rani Mukherjee’s Aiyyaa which released today has received a mixed response from the critics. While Rani has been praised for her spirited performance in the film, the movie itself has been described as a tad bit too long and over the top by most of the reviewers. Aiyyaa also opened to a lukewarm response at the box office. Let’s see how the film picks up over the weekend, for now here are what the critics has to say about Rani’s performance as ‘Meenakshi’.

“Rani is delightful as a woman in heat. She expertly manages to be both a simpleton and a seductress. She looks stunning and dances like a dervish. But the film can’t match her performance. Kundalkar’s story soon runs out of charm and wit. His lovely idea and original voice is stretched to the point where even Rani’s mannerisms start to feel repetitive.” - Anupama Chopra (Hindustan Times)

“Meenaxi, of course, is the film’s juiciest character…a woman conflicted between pursuing the man of her dreams, who barely notices her, and settling for a simple guy with simple tastes who has picked her to be his bride. Rani Mukherjee owns the part with a tremendous, uninhibited performance, switching superbly between the film’s exaggerated and understated moments.” – Rajeev Masand  (IBN)

“A complete natural, Rani glides through her part with brilliance. An accomplished actor, who can handle the comic sequences with as much flourish as the emotional ones, Rani is absolutely ravishing.” – Taran Adarsh (Bollywood Hungama)

“Rani, as fine an actor that one gets in Bollywood, gets no support from the way her character is written but nevertheless is a joy to watch. The ways she says aiyyaa (a Marathi expression used when one is pleasantly surprised), the way she breathes, the way she portrays her character, and the way she dances. ” – Rediff

And now Rani simply wows us with her interpretation of the middle class dreamer’s part. She’s played the downmarket dreamer before, in Bunty Aur Babli. Rani lets the working class wannabe’s imagination take wings to soar eagle-like in the sky that, alas, gets progressively clouded and murky. - Subhash K Jha (Sify)