What's Your Raashee?

"What's Your Rashee" would make you wonder if he is the same director who wielded the megaphone in "Lagaan", "Swades" & "Jodha Akbar". It wouldn't be no rocket-science to state that the starting point namely the book "Kimball Revenswood" by Madhu Rye is the culprit. I would also add another state that translating a book to screen requires a different sensibilities altogether and this was sadly big time missing.

And shouldering Priyanka Chopra to breathe life into all the 12- characters was indeed an herculean task. Don't get me wrong but she put an effort into each character more than humanly possible. But it gets inanely boring after a few characters pass by. If twelve different popular actress'es were chosen instead, it would have taken the movie to a different level altogether. Harman Baweja is imprisoned into poor man's Hritik caricature.

The length of the movie adds to the woes, especially after 7th Priyanka, the audience wishes to fast-forward to the climax to find who becomes the better-half of Mr. Yogesh Patel.

The comedy track was mundane and hardly evokes mirth. Music by Sohail Sen is different but misses the bulls-eye.

Good luck next time ASHu. You are a phoenix and will surely rise from ASHes.

PS: My mind is still afresh with the spectacular performance of Late Mohan Gokhale who breathed life into Mr. Y I Patel in "Mr. Yogi" on good old Doordarshan which has had similar storyline.

Looking at the project as a whole, I had my doubts on whether Ashutosh will be able to create the same magic with Harman Baweja, as he previously did with Hrithik Roshan in the role of an unimaginable Akbar. With a shaky subject in hand and mediocre songs on air, I was not sure of another polished product from the director with a big stature in the Industry. And all my doubts proved right as "What's Your Rashee" came out to be just a below average movie with an unbearable long length, not so impressive content and many unwanted ordinary songs.

Said to be based on the novel by Madhu Rye, the story (which is quite predictable) moves around a young NRI boy who is here in India to marry a girl within a week. To make a good choice he decides to meet a girl from each sun sign and then take a decision. Unfortunately, the interesting idea, fails completely in its uninspiring screen adaptation. Other than the twelve different girls brilliantly portrayed by Priyanka Chopra, there is no particular scene in the movie to rave about. In fact if you see the movie, ignoring the truth that it has been directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, then you will just take it as a debut project of any budding director and nothing more.

The biggest disappointment in the movie is its extra long length and completely uninspiring music. The length is fine when we are watching a movie like "Lagaan" or "Jodha Akbar", but you cannot make every project close to four hours of duration just for the sake of it. Ashutosh could have easily edited out most of the songs in the movie as they are not anywhere a part of the progressing storyline. The run of the mill soundtrack stands nowhere, if compared to the scores of Gowariker's earlier projects. Yes, he had the great A. R. Rahman on his side in all those musical masterpieces, but there were also good hummable songs in his "Baazi" too, which proves that he indeed has a good choice of melodies. Surprisingly in "What's Your Rashee" out of more than 12 songs, we don't even have one particular track to stay in our mind except the obvious title number.

Apart from its length and music, the monotonous act of seeing girls again and again becomes quite boring and annoying after a while. There is a very silly explanation given about the similar faces of all 12 girls in the start which puts you off straight away. The completely avoidable and poorly written detective angle in the script fails to make an impact. It also does not reach any conclusion since Ashutosh simply forgets about this added sub-plot towards the end and moves on. There is no proper justification given about how & why Harman makes his choice in the climax as everything just gets sorted our very easily and quickly.

In few words, it's a Priyanka Chopra movie all the way, where she acts, dances and emotes in 12 different ways in a fantastic manner. Unarguably, it's one of the best performances of her career till date. On the other hand, I really feel sad for Harman Baweja, who is a true hard worker, but still hasn't got the lady luck smiling at him. When it came to Harman's turn, even the man with a midas touch, lost his golden stroke and failed. May be it's all destiny that whatever the boy does, he always gets compared to Hrithik Roshan, because of their naturally similar looks.

All other character artists in the movie have simply performed their allotted roles as a duty towards the director. Cinematography serves the purpose well and visual graphics are nice to see on the screen. Especially the graphical presentation of all the sun signs at the start reminded me of the famous James Bond opening credits, known for their brilliant graphics and girls.

A few decades back we had a T.V. Serial called "Mr.Yogi",where also a young NRI selects few girls to meet before his planned marriage. In each episode he used to meet a new girl from a different family and background. And I still remember, that I enjoyed the T.V. serial many times more than the current "What's Your Rashee". In all, a big disappointment from the director who's all last 3 movies, are there in my "Movies To See Before You Die" list.

I saw this movie at it's Toronto International Film Festival premier. Having watched the hilarious promos, I was very excited.

For the few who don't know the plot, I'll give a brief outline. Yogesh Patel (Harman) is a MBA student at the University of Chicago. He is supposed to inherit his maternal grandfather's wealth once he gets married. In order to pay back his brother's huge debt he is forced by his family to get married and being the emotionally sensitive that he is, he gives in to his family's plead. He then decides to see 12 girls (all played by Priyanka Chopra), one from each Rashee (sun sign) in 10 days and decide the one he likes the most.

Okay, now to the actors. Each of the 12 characters's stories are unique and well detailed. Priyanka does a fantastic job at playing each role to perfection, well almost, there are some hiccups here and there. But, one has to really commend her growth as an actress. Harman was okay and still showed signs of immaturity as an actor. Though it was big improvement from the horrendous Love Story 2050.

The movie is 192 minutes long and you can feel it. Ashutosh really needs to make his movies shorter. The direction otherwise is top-class. The THIRTEEN songs are not that bad, but nowhere close to the expectations one would set for an A-list movie. I personally only liked the title track.

What let's it down is the storyline. The story gets slightly boring at times but it picks up and manages to keep you hooked and laughing for 180 minutes. It's what happens in the last 10 minutes is what ruined it, the ending is one of the worst I have ever seen. They build up such a suspense through out the move and it is perfectly poised for a big climax... and nothing. It ends in a lull.

I definitely recommend the movie for Priyanka's hilarious and outstanding performance and romantic comedy fans will surely love it. But, it was definitely not worth the $45 I spent on the premier, I would have preferred waiting for a week and watched it for 1/4th the price.

The Bad: -Length. Film is nearly 3 1/2 hours long. They could easily have done away with 4 of the songs (e.g. Maanunga Maanunga, Saloni, Su Che and Dhadkan Dhadkan), the whole Devukaka cheating and Bhai subplots, and the film would have lost nothing. In fact, it would have been much more enjoyable. -Editing. Renu Saluja should have challenged her director about the worthiness of some of the frivolous scenes. -The lengthy Bond style interpretive dance intros for each female character got annoying real quick. Yeah, Priyanka looks smoking, but the device wears its welcome quick.

The Good: -Priyanka Chopra -Priyanka Chopra Oh and did I forget to mention, Priyanka Chopra? A few years ago, I would have never believed the awkward side heroine from Sunny Deol's miserable Hero would grow in to such a Fine (in more ways that one) actress. She grabs you the second she walks in with her first role as Anjali, and you'll be hooked all the way to the end of the Jhankhana act. Songs are almost all great (and only downside is some are unnecessary in the movie).

Have a feeling some audience members who are obsessive about their belief in astrology may be offended by Ashutosh playing on the characters. But my wife and I thought it was cute. If only the film had repeat value in the cinemas.

Ashutosh Gowariker has become a brand over the years, he has made milestones like 'Lagaan', 'Swades' & 'Jodhaa Akbar'. Expectations are bound to be there, reading his name creates a excitement in a cine-lover, and I being his die-hard went & watched his latest outing 'What's Your Raashee?'. Sadly, The Ace Filmmaker misses the bus this time!

On the whole 'What's Your Raashee?' is long, boring and complicated. Accomplished filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker disappoints big time with his latest outing. Plus, the excessive running time will prove to be a major disadvantage. 13 good songs {though they appear very boring in the film}, good performances & decent camera-work can't save, when a tacky screenplay is aside. As a fan of Gowariker, I am hugely disappointed. The Academy-Award-Nominated Filmmaker makes his weakest fare in 'What's Your Raashee?'.

Pluses: The first hr, to an extend is entertaining. Music by Sohail Sen is fantastic; but looks forced in the film completely. Camera-work is decent. Performances are good: Priyanka is remarkable. She plays the very first character & the part of the doctor exceedingly well. Harman is likable. Darshan Jariwala is superb, so are Anjan Shrivastav, Dilip Joshi & Rajesh Vivek.

Minuses: The screenplay. The film is very very lengthy, and the songs are a major bore. In fact if some songs were deleted, the movie could've been a bit better. Plus, the Darshan Jariwala-Anjan Shrivastav-Rajesh Vivek track seems forced.

Let's hope that the next time Ashu returns as the captain of the ship, he makes a hell of a good film.