Aiyyaa—Of Alice In Wonderland

Sachin Kundalkar's Aiyyaa is one of those films that make me happy just by thinking about it. I start laughing when I recollect some of its scenes. The film has been ridiculed, but it is one of my all-time favorite films. It is a highly underrated film. There is a lot to admire in Aiyyaa, and whenever I watch it, I see a new perspective.

Aiyyaa is the story of Meenaxi (Rani Mukherji). She is a Maharashtrian mulgi. She works at a college. Her family wants her to get married as soon as possible. She has a mother, a father, a brother, and a grandmother in her family. She has a heightened sense of smell and is drawn to Surya (Prithviraj), an arts student. She follows him whenever he is around as she cannot take control of her senses in the presence of the hypnotizing smell. 

Rani Mukerji as Meenaxi is terrific. Meenaxi is a woman who wants to work to buy her own small place where she can live by herself. The piles of garbage and its hideous smell are a metaphor for the suffocation she feels in her life. She wants to escape this. She does not want to do an arranged marriage as she thinks love is important before marrying someone. It is a great feeling to see someone so madly in love with someone that she will go into uncharted territories to get her love. Whether it is the men's toilet, the red-light areas, or the dingy alleys of an industrial zone teeming with drunk men, Meenaxi tries to follow her heart. She would even buy drugs in the middle of the night to prove that her lover is not a drug addict. Though sometimes, she does cross the boundaries, like when she secretly goes to his room and steals his shirt and a photograph, which could be interpreted as stalking. Surya's smell relieves her from the garbage smell and helps her understand and explore her deeper desires. Sometimes, one has to fight to get love, and she makes every effort. She learns Tamil to communicate better with him and tells him to keep the first button of his shirt open. She runs away from her engagement because she wants to spend her life with someone else. She wears his shirt just to feel closer to him, which I think is charming. She has an unfettered belief in Surya that he does not take drugs. She says, "Gore nahi, mujhe kaale log pasand hai," which is not to say that she is racist; this was a satirical remark on Indian fascination for white skin. There is a terrific scene in the end when they both talk about how low the percentage they got in Class 10 is. The way she counts in Tamil and mixes Aiyyaa and Aiyyoo, the way she kisses his picture, the way she secretly blushes thinking about him, the way she smells his painting, the way she smells him, Meenaxi is endearing, you feel for her, and you want that she gets everything.

Meenaxi says that her favorite book is Alice In Wonderland and that she has read it at least a hundred times, and sometimes, she feels it is her own story. Aiyyaa is like Alice In Wonderland. Meenaxi is Alice. Meenaxi's wonderland is her dreamland where she keeps on going, where there is a lot of space for herself, where there is no garbage, and everything smells beautiful. Mynah is the White Rabbit, always in a hurry as if on a stimulant. She also dresses as one later in one of the songs, and she keeps drinking alcohol from her bottle, Jumbo. Her father smokes four cigarettes at a time and repairs old telephone, and he is like the Caterpillar. Her grandmother, with golden teeth, who cannot see and yet can see everything is like the always-grinning Cheshire Cat. As the Mad Hatter said to Alice, "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad," it is true for the film itself, where every character is mad. All characters have their own idiosyncrasies. In fact, the board outside their house has 'Insaanon Se Saavdhaan' written on it. Like the iconic blue dress of Alice, most of the time, Meenaxi is also dressed in blue color. In the end, Meenaxi's father says, "Is it a dream or reality?" which indicates a wonderland. I recently listened to Salman Rushdie, who said Alice In Wonderland is his favorite book. He made an excellent point and noted that the book has many darker themes, more suited for adults. In some ways, Aiyyaa has a much deeper theme than being only a comedy film, as it is touted. It talks about the hidden desires of a woman. Two years ago, Vikas Bahl's Queen (link) also explored the theme of Alice In Wonderland, where Rani wore a sweatshirt with 'Alice In Wonderland meets the White Rabbit' written on it. Queen also explored the hidden desires and dreams of a woman named Rani. It is funny how coincidences work sometimes. Both films have a 'Rani' connection, too. Aiyyaa is an Indianized Alice In Wonderland.

Rani's other suitor is Madhav (Subodh Bhave). He is a beautiful, wonderful person and certainly one of the best characters in the film. He is thoughtful, and as Meenaxi says, he is the first person who ever asked her opinion on how she feels about things. He loves movies by Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval, in which people communicate through eyes rather than words. He has a poster of Chashme Buddoor in his room and sings Tumko Dekha Toh Yeh Khayal Aaya. He maintains a garden of roses on the roof of his house. When he finds out that Meenaxi is in love with Surya, he takes her to her room, says nothing at all through his mouth but says everything with his eyes and hugs her. One can't help but feel absolutely sorry for him. But the wonderful thing is when Meenaxi patronizingly says that they will always be friends, he tells her he does not want to hear these Rose Day-type dialogues and wishes her the best in life. I am sure he will get over her soon and find someone he truly deserves. He is a gem of a person. The film could have chosen the easier path, where Madhav could be one of those silly boys who came to see her, but he is genuinely nice and husband material. For instance, in Dil Chahta Hai, Shalini was engaged to Rohit, a possessive and jealous boyfriend, but she loved Akash. The choice was clear from the beginning, and the film chose the easier way, given the unlikeability of Rohit's character. Madhav, though, will have to deal with heartbreak not because he is silly; it is just the way life works. The smell of his garden of roses is insufficient to attract him to Meenaxi.

Baradwaj Rangan writes, "Is the film's terrain not so much fantastic as Freudian, with id and ego represented by Suriya and Madhav, respectively, the unconscious dark (and dark-complexioned) desire and the pull of practicality?" It is a fantastic point, but I tend to see Surya and Madhav as a statement on the two types of cinema—mainstream and art house. Surya is like those Tamil commercial movies, with larger-than-life props and men with perfect bodies. The song Dreamum Wakeupum is a reference to that kind of film. At one point, Meenaxi says Surya is like Guru Dutt, but once he leaves college, he will become Aamir Khan. In contrast, Madhav is like the art house parallel films of Farooq Sheikh, where everything is communicated through eyes, there are no designer clothes, and what matters are feelings, like in his favorite film Chashme Baddoor. Men do not have perfect bodies. In fact, we see Madhav's body when he changes his clothes, which is nothing like Surya's brawn perfection. At one point, both Surya and Madhav are coming toward Meenaxi. They both carry a bag in different styles, and both wear clothes that reflect their personality. It is this dilemma that Meenaxi has to resolve, just like in reality, where most commercial films win the box office and popularity; here, too, Surya wins, and Madhav is left to find someone else who wants him.

At one point in the film, Meenaxi sees Surya perched on a wooden pillar. He sits quietly and is half-naked, wearing a pair of black shorts and a black vest. It is as if he is a statute. I was always confused by the meaning of the scene. The writers of Aiyyaa have said the film focuses on the female gaze. A female gaze is a cinematic trope where work is presented from a female perspective or reflects female attitudes. For instance, the song Dard-E-Disco in Om Shanti Om shows the chiseled body of Shahrukh Khan. In Aiyyaa, Surya is represented using a female gaze. He is objectified in the film's songs. Meenaxi imagines making love for his perfect body. We see the story from her viewpoint. This statue scene makes sense. We see Surya reading books by Michelangelo and Raphael. Michelangelo's David is considered the epitome of the perfect male human body. Surya sitting half-naked was perhaps a metaphor for Michelangelo's naked David, with Meenaxi able to see him as the object of her 'female gaze' here and at many other places in the film. The concept of the female gaze is also there in Mynah, also called Gaga Bai, who is obsessed with John Abraham and is not shy to talk about his body. It is entirely befitting that the film's major star is one of the top actresses, and the film's title credits open with her name.

With music by Amit Trivedi and lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya, the songs are as crazy as the film itself. Each song has a certain sense of lunacy and naughtiness. Most of the songs pay tribute to varied pop cultures. Ijjat Papad sung by Sneha' O Womaniya' Khanwalkar, is fascinatingly weird. The song comes when Nana visits Mynah's house to look for Meenaxi. Mynah, dressed in a bunny rabbit, opens the door and thinks that Nana is her lover; she jumps onto him, and they start cavorting. If we hear and look closely, the song is a parody of the Lijjat Papad commercial that used to come in the early nineties. The commercial ended with a voice by a bunch of bunnies, and the same tune is used in this song. In the commercial, too, there are bunnies, and Lijjat Papad's logo is a pink bunny. Mynah is dressed in a pink bunny costume. Lijjat Papad and Ijjat Papad sound the same. Every time I hear it, I am reminded of that commercial. The song also confirms that Mynah is the White Rabbit from Alice In Wonderland. The dance moves are a bit raunchy, but the song's premise is wonderfully crazy. Who could have thought about this?

Mynah in Pink Bunny Costume

Lijjat Papad and Pink Bunny 

Lijjat Papad Commercial

Aga Bai has shades of Kama Sutra. It has excellent choreography. However, some scenes in it are almost soft porn. There is a sequence where the Surya puts petrol in Meenaxi's bike, and it is so raunchy that I start laughing. One has to see that sequence, but in all honesty, I did not mind it all. It is great fun, and I immensely enjoyed this song with double meanings when we are subjected to the most hideous skin shows. But again, there is nothing wrong with a woman wanting her secret fantasies. 

Dreamum Wakeupum is inspired by Silk Smitha and Tamil Midnight Masala. It reminds me a lot of The Dirty Picture, but this song is a lot of fun.

Sava Dollar is a lavni dance, and Rani is again superb in it. The song is a great parody of Bollywood. At one point, she is seen endorsing a range of products, from toothpaste to cement. And the latest confirmation of one's status symbol in Bollywood is getting an invite to Koffee With Karan, which the song also shows. But my favorite song in the film is the delightful Mahek Bhi. Sung by Shreya Ghoshal, the song appears whenever Meenaxi thinks about Surya. I like the lyrics when it says, "Mahek bhi kahani sunati hai, sunlo agar. Hawaaon ke zariye batati hai, samjho agar." Even the fragrance tells a story of its own, and it tells it through the winds if you try to understand. It is so true that there is a story in every smell.

I laughed at Mynah's antics. She takes inspiration from Lady Gaga; whether it is her necklace of pen drives, Armani and Gucci bags in Hindi, or her set of unreleased films, Anita Date is superb as Mynah. 

There is a particular focus on the use of colors in the film, predominantly yellow and blue. There are books by Michelangelo, Raphael, Atul Dodiya, and Sachin Khandekar, and a portrait of Dali. What is interesting is that Surya's specialization is 'Faces.' My favorite scene is when he admires her face from the back of a one-sided mirror. There is also a Raja Ravi Verma reference where Meenaxi's mom is standing in the same pose as Verma's painting next to her.

I was particularly intrigued by two things. In the dream sequences from Tezaab, Chaalbaaz, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, or later from Dil, Meenaxi always wears oversized sunglasses in them. Was that a way to help distinguish the dream from reality, where we cannot see her eyes? This is interesting to note because her grandmother is always in sunglasses, and as her father says, she cannot see anything, yet she can see everything. Was wearing sunglasses an indication? I am not sure. I also liked the use of blue colors in Surya's paintings. Still, as this explains, "Surya's canvases are always daubed with blue, almost as if to underline his hectic, angst-ridden world—student in the morning, struggling artist by day, and supervisor of his late father's business at night."

Not only Alice In Wonderland but film also shows Meenaxi reading famous Marathi author Prakash Narayan Sant's Zumbar. From whatever little Hindi text is available, the book is about a kid named Lampan and his feelings and thoughts along the lines of R.K. Narayan's Malgudi Days. If only I knew Marathi, I could understand better about it (link).

Trivia:-
Isn't that Guneet Monga?

It is a remake of Sachin Khundalkar's national award-winning Marathi film Gandha, a collection of three short stories connected by a sense of smell. The first story Lagnaachya Vayachi Mulgi and Aiyyaa is a remake of that part. While the original film was praised, this film has been unfairly panned. It has a lot to think about and a lot to enjoy. 

Other recommended reading:
1. Link—A great article on the palette of colors in Aiyyaa.

2. Link—An excellent article on the feminist themes in Aiyyaa.

Dialogue of the Day:

"Kaisi zaalim duniya hai, naa reality me jeene dete hai, na sapne me jaane dete hai."

 —Meenaxi, Aiyyaa