A young, super-excited fan of Bollywood, Anita couldn't help sharing her review of What's Your Raashee? with us after she caught a sneak peek of the highly anticipated film at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Read on to find out if the movie lived up to her expectations.The first thing I would like to make clear is the
What's Your Raashee is nothing like Ashutosh Gowariker's usual work. If you're expecting another
Lagaan or
Jodhaa Akbar, you will be sorely disappointed. This movie is much more off-the-wall and humorous than those serious films. If you can't handle lack of realism, something Bollywood is pretty much known for, then
What's Your Raashee is definitely not for you. There's very little reason given as to why all 12 girls look the same, you just have to take it as it comes.
Yogesh Patel (Harman Baweja) seems to be destined to marry on the 20th of the month, as predicted by an astrologer, and it is also predicted that marriage will bring him a lot of wealth! In fact, Yogesh's grandfather has signed an agreement bequeathing all of his land and property to Yogesh once he gets married, for Yogesh is his favourite grandson and a kind-hearted boy. The father immediately decides that they should lure their son Yogesh back from Chicago to India and get him married.
The father and brother, Jitu, trick Yogesh into coming to India by saying that the father had a heart attack. Yogesh reaches, and after some annoyance agrees to meet girls for marriage.
That night, while being unable to sleep, Yogesh picks up a book called '
What's Your Raashee'. He reads about how every girl and guy are divided into 12 different signs and that their traits are also determined by which horoscope they belong too.
His father's good friend, Devu, decides to help Yogesh and puts an ad out. Yogesh ends up getting 176 replies! Instead of seeing all the girls, Yogesh says that Devu should find him 12 girls to meet, one from every raashee, and he will pick one of them.
Before I continue on, I thought I'd mention that the opening credits with the song '
Pal Pal Jisko Dhoonde' was really cool, showing Priyanka in shadow as each of the raashees.
The first girl Yogesh meets is Anjali, the Aries. The awkward and somewhat nerdy way that Anjali acts makes you realize right off the bat that Priyanka isn't going to be her typical self in this film, at least not for all of it. Anjali is awkward, cannot speak proper English and even smokes a cigarette backwards trying to impress Yogesh. Next up is Sanjana, who is Aquarius. Yogesh plans to meet her at a wedding she is going too and immediately likes what he sees. But he's also kind of confused. Why does she look exactly like Anjali?
The next girl that Yogesh meets is Kajal, the Gemini. She asks him to meet her at a college dance competition. Kajal is bubbly and energetic, and makes Yogesh enter the dance, which he does well in for the song '
Aaja Lehraate'.
Next up was Cancer, Hansa. She was a fairly traditional girl whose family was happy that Yogesh was not asking for a dowry.
Next up is Rajni, Libra. She's a corporate woman who basically runs their first meeting like a business meeting. Her personal assistant even takes minutes!
Next up is crazy ol' Chandrika, Pisces. She and her father come to meet Yogesh. Her father is quite overbearing and basically answers everything Yogesh asks of Chandrika.
The next person Yogesh meets is Mallika, Leo, who is a dancer. Yogesh is really impressed by her performance to '
Dhadkan Dhadkan'.
Yogesh meets his next
raashee, Virgo, who is Dr. Pooja, at her office. They have to cut their time short and Pooja has to leave with the rest of the medical staff to a village where they work. She asks Yogesh if he wants to come with her, so they ride on her motorcycle, talking, laughing and flirting. Meanwhile, the song '
Pyaari Pyaari' plays as we see scenes of them at the village enjoying each others' time and seeing how they act with the children of the village.
Yogesh's friend sets him up to meet with his sexy Scorpio cousin Nandini. Yogesh goes to meet Nandini and is surprised to see that she is dressed conservatively and accompanied by her parents who claim that she has never done anything even remotely "scandalous" before.
Next up, Yogesh gets an amazing chance to meet the daughter of the "cotton king", one of the biggest industrialists in India. Their Taurus daughter, Vishakha, wants to meet with him. When Yogesh is taken to the industrialist's home, he is amazed at the size and grandeur of the place. It's pretty amazing.
Yogesh goes to meet the Sagittarius girl, Bhavna. The first thing Bhavna does is check how Yogesh's birth chart compares with hers. As she is studying his chart, she sees that the stars predict that his first marriage will end in failure. According to astrology, only his second marriage will succeed.
The final girl is Capricorn, Jhankhana. She is an extremely shy and extremely traditional young girl. Yogesh smiles and asks her what she studies in college. This question causes the girl to freak out and start crying. As Yogesh looks around the house he sees pictures of Jhankhana in a schoolgirl outfit.
Having already seen all of the girls, Yogesh is as confused as ever. His mother tells him to calmly take the time to think of all the girls and to finally realize which one he is in love with. He falls asleep and we see the song '
Chehre Jo Dekhe Hain'. I actually really liked the picturisation for this song with all 12 girls together and interacting. This video actually allows you to see how Priyanka plays each of the characters differently with various mannerisms. And it's interesting to see them all interacting.
As a whole it was slightly disappointing. Mostly that's because I know what an amazing job Ashutosh Gowariker can do. Harman does a better job than he did in Love Story 2050, but I also feel that any male actor could have filled his shoes. I love the soundtrack of this movie, but most song situations were extremely manufactured.
Now, that's the negative stuff, but there is one big positive, and that is Priyanka Chopra. Wow. No actress has done a role like this, that is for sure. She really busts out the acting chops in this film. This is a great follow-up to
Fashion and
Kaminey, for sure.
The movie itself is also quite long. Though I didn't personally feel the length of the film, the general feedback from the audience was that it was dragging on. I personally felt that the second half of the film was much stronger than the first and that viewers should stick it out, because things do get more interesting.
The chemistry between Harman and Priyanka is pretty interesting, because it keeps changing as the characters change.
Overall, I think that
What's Your Raashee was okay. I will admit that the story idea is quite interesting, though execution is not always the best it could be. It's the first time I've seen the ending credits roll by with the same name listed 12 times in a row. That's got to be worth something!
Director R Balki made the decision as he believes (rightly so) that it is the first time Amitabh Bachchan is playing a 12 year-old and. The Cheeni Kum director said that if there is anyone in India who (possibly) hasn’t seen Bachchan before will not recognize him at all. His character is simply called Auro in the film.
Two people who meet after a hiatus of six years, now occupying different worlds. Evidently, they had moved on ...
