Ayisha review: Manju Warrier keeps the ship from sinking

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By PS Arjun

January 20, 2023

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

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Upon migrating to the Gulf, Ayisha (Manju Warrier) goes to work for a royal Arab family as a domestic hand.

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Ayisha and Mama, the head of the family, form a beautiful bond as a result of interesting events. Their scenes together are truly moving.

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The movie is based on the experiences of Malayalam actor and activist Nilambur Ayisha (now 85). She was the first Muslim woman to act in Malayalam movies.

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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.

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

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

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Vishnu Sarma’s cinematography is outstanding. M Jayachandran’s music is impressive, but the songs come as speed breakers of a train that was moving calmly.

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

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It loses its track post-interval. A few minutes after the interval there are some incredibly forced bits and the film ends up as a mediocre one.

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

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

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