Emma in Bollywood: The Small World of Aisha

The heroine of Aisha (2010) is modern and metropolitan, yet the South Delhi social world we see through her eyes seems nearly as enclosed and peripheral as Emma’s Highbury, and the ending keeps her there. Aisha claims cosmopolitan sophistication through Western fashion, which she deploys masterfully to establish her dominance, especially over the traditional “village girl” Shefali. But how can Aisha feel like anything but a wannabe compared to Aarti, the returnee who has actually been to New York and succeeded there, and is now just as successful in Delhi? Aisha adds a postcolonial edge to the way Emma ultimately realizes that her place in the world is where she already is.