The movie “Aisha” starring Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Doel and produced by Rhea Kapoor marks 11 years of its release. Aisha, directed by Rajshree Ojha, is loosely based on a Jane Austin novel called Emma. Sonam plays a wealthy girl from Delhi who fancies herself as a matchmaker, but her attempts to set her friends up with each other do not always go as planned.
In a clubhouse session, Sonam opened up about the challenges they faced while filmmaking and how Rhea and Sonam found strength in each other. “As women, we don’t realise that there is more power in numbers. The way my sister (Rhea) and I were bullied through the process of making the film by some of the men in the industry made us realise when there are more of you together, it’s easier to stand up to things and give each other strength. So that was the one thing that was a takeaway from Aisha, that I always knew my sister was my best friend,” said Sonam.
Rhea Kapoor, the producer of the movie, spoke about the hate they received as makers when the movie was released. It was only after many years that it ‘became more accepted’. “What a lot of people don’t know about Aisha is that the film became more accepted and successful many years after its release. Gal Mithhi Mithhi Bol was the only thing that was outright successful. The film made a little bit of money but received a lot of hate initially. People thought we made this film simply because we could, but the release of the film forced us both to grow up a lot,” she said.
The movie also features Ira Dubey, Amrita Puri, Arunoday Singh, Cyrus Sahukar and Lisa Haydon. The film was a semi-hit at the box office.