Siddharth is lazy and hedonistic. He lives off his father's successful business, but is not at all suited to the job of taking over after him. Enter Aisha, new to Mumbai, set on independence and her goal of becoming a writer. What can they learn from each other?
Everything about the film is strikingly 2000s - of course the clothes and songs, but also the fact that the leads initially correspond over email and they never kiss. Plus, Sid is an Arsenal fan.
Sid's initial lifestyle is what happens when you are stationary in a city that's always on the move. His friends pass their final college exam, one even moves a little too fast in the romance business. But he stays put amidst piles of pizza boxes and unwashed clothes.
He meets Aisha at a party and the two quickly become friends. He helps her decorate her apartment (which is pretty decent-sized with a sea view, for an assistant's starting salary). She is very clear that he is childish and not her type. That said, I don't think she and Sid are opposites. Her character is, in one sense, an illustration of the difference between childish and childlike. She roams the city with wide-eyed wonder; he is familiar with it, but looks out with a photographer's eye.
The rest of the story is not the twistiest in Bollywood history. Sid has a showdown with his parents; he moves in with Aisha; he slowly learns to cook and do chores and gets a job at the same magazine Aisha got a job at. (By the way, if anyone knows about English-language magazines about Mumbai like the one in the film, let me know!) Soon he is ready to move out, but Aisha isn't ready to let go. She writes about him as her first magazine piece, saying he was the city's gift to her, her first friend. They embrace on Marine Drive in the first shower of the monsoon, which he had told her was the best thing to see in Mumbai.
Aisha has a clear goal and takes steps in that direction. While I suppose this disqualifies her from being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, she doesn't really have much of a story arc apart from embracing her preference for old Hindi songs and later her feelings for Sid. There's an interesting moment where her boss, a jazz lover, calls her music tastes childish - this time she is at the receiving end of this jibe. Getting your act together is one thing, but there will always be people you aren't "adult" enough for. That's okay, and you have to stay true to your passions.
Mumbai works as a backdrop for this kind of story because of the wide variety of ways you can engage with such a vibrant place. There is partying every night, and then there is choosing to document the streets and people as your day job. (Even the parties can either just be getting mindlessly drunk, or they can be where you meet your new best friend or make up with an old one.) And sometimes, your inner child does need to run out in the first rain of the monsoon.
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