Ayisha review: With full authority, Manju Warrier keeps the ship from sinking

Ayisha, a Malayalam-Arabic bilingual, marks the directorial debut of Aamir Pallikal.

The film has been in the headlines for the past few days because of its lead actor — Manju Warrier, who left no stone unturned in promoting it on every platform.

Without further delay, read through our review here.

Upon migrating to the Gulf, Ayisha (Manju Warrier) goes to work for a royal Arab family as a domestic hand. She gradually learns all the etiquette of the palace.

Ayisha and Mama, the head of the family, form a beautiful bond as a result of interesting events.

The movie is based on the experiences of Malayalam actor and activist Nilambur Ayisha (now 85).

Nilambur Ayisha was a theatre artist before becoming an actress in Malayalam. She did over 2,500 stage performances and appeared in over 50 films. Indeed, she was the first Muslim woman to act in Malayalam movies.

She was 18 when a man shot her while she was performing on a stage at Melakkam in Manjeri. He was a religious conservative who believed that Muslim women shouldn’t act on stage.

What worked well?

You can’t knock the fact Ayisha is well made, with a strong performance and some amusing lines.

Mama is by far the most interesting character in the film. The scenes where Mama and Ayisha appear are really good and truly moving. Those scenes are an emotional rollercoaster and their combination is a beautiful watch.

This portion and the power-packed performance by Manju Warrier make it worth a watch.

Related: ‘Ayisha’ is not just another female-centric film, says Manju Warrier

You will love Manju Warrier’s performance and her screen presence. “Beautiful” is the right word to define her.

The other actors, including Krishna Sankar, were excellent and everyone puts in a lot of effort.

Vishnu Sarma’s cinematography is outstanding and so is the production design. The whole look of Ayisha is perfect.

M Jayachandran’s music is quite impressive even though the songs are not good enough on screen. The songs come as speed breakers of a train that was moving calmly.

#Ayisha ❤️ pic.twitter.com/yX5hYmHX9U

— Manju Warrier (@ManjuWarrier4) January 20, 2023

What didn’t work?

The lessons on many things, including God and religion, will not go down well with the audience.

In the first half, it feels like the movie is all about how a slave impresses her owner.

It loses its track post-interval. A few minutes after the interval bang, it takes a wrong turn.

This is followed by some incredibly forced bits and the film ends up as a mediocre one. It tries to be something that isn’t.

Some characters randomly appear and disappear, like the kid in the royal family. It is an assembly of threads and scenes all seen.

Warning: The movie has too many Arabic, Tamil, English and Hindi dialogues. We have to follow the whole Arabic portions in English subtitles.

With characters like Mama and Ayisha, it is just a shame that the film has been made so inconsistently.

However, Manju Warrier carries it on her shoulders and rescues it.

Verdict

Nilambur Ayisha’s life is quite eventful. A movie inspired by her life deserved much more than this.