Genre : Comedy / Romance
Year : 2009
Running time : 3 hours 12 minutes
Director : Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast : Priyanka Chopra, Harman Baweja, Anjan Srivastav, Darshan Jariwala, Manju Singh, Dilip Joshi
Kid rating : PG
WHAT’s YOUR RASHEE (MOVIE REVIEW) : THE LONG AND BORING WAY TO FIND A BRIDE !
Ashutosh Gowariker – film maker extraordinaire, or a director too cheap to hire an editor ? “What’s your rashee ?” was a whopping 192 minutes long. Yes, that’s 3 hours and 12 minutes. And it’s not like Gowarikar made an exception here – Lagaan was about 3 hours and 40 minutes long, Swades 3 hours and 14 minutes, and Jodha-Akbar 3 hours and 35 minutes. So you could call WYR his “shortest” film, although me thinks it could have been much shorter – like by at least 1.5 hours !
This film also had 12 songs (one of which Gowariker has sung himself), on average it seemed, one per Rashee ! Reading the reviews, and finding out that I was about to watch an almost 3.5 hour film with wishy-washy Harman Baweja in the lead made me quake in my boots (or sandals really – it’s still summer-like weather here). However I persevered (that’s my middle name), because the way I see it, the worst from Gowariker still has to be loads better than the best from directors like David Dhawan, Sajid Khan, Anil Sharma and their ilk.
The story, as per my preview, is of Yogesh (Baweja) trying to find a bride in 10 days, to save his family from catastrophe. Having gotten his pointers from a book, and deciding that there are only 12 types of girls in the world, one of each Rashi (or Zodiac Sign) Yogesh decides to meet one of each Rashee and then pick his soul-mate. Priyanka Chopra plays all 12 girls – small-town Anjali , rich heiress Vishakha , fun-loving Kajal , sedate Hansa , fiery Mallika , selfless Pooja , toe-my-line Rajni , wanna-be model Nandini , come-hither Bhavna , gauche Jhankhana , foreign-born Sanjana and superstitious Chandrika.
Gowariker adds some reflections on society in this story – there’s the problem of dowry, and under-age marriage, and the issue of an unwed woman who is not quite the coveted virgin. But while the story is relatively strong, the film suffers from a rather loose screenplay. For a romantic comedy, WYR can never gather up enough pace to render it either romantic or a comedy. The songs are quite interruptive, and meeting one girl after another got quite dreary after about the first 3-4 (and we were counting !).
I’m happy to report however that it’s not all bad news folks. This film is L-O-N-G, as in you-need-3-intermissions-lots-of-refreshments long. But I can’t quite call it a bad film. It reminded me of an older genre of movies, of a thoughtful, sedate style of film, albeit extremely stretched. It’s fairly clean, with some very well shot scenes and songs. Take for example the credits in the beginning of the film – they were done in a play of light and shadow with Priyanka in what looked to be a leotard, and reminded me of the credits in a Bond film.
Priyanka over-shadows Harma effortlessly – she’s come a long way in acting terms. I was especially impressed with her “Anjali” avatar – slouchy posture, diffident gestures, and to top it all the snort – quite marvelous ! Baweja, unfortunately, lacks screen presence. Although he can act quite the ingénue (that’s what saves his performance) and seems quite earnest, he also appears unsure of himself, and it shows. The supporting cast was fantastic – there was Anjan Srivastav as Yogesh’s “Pappa”, Manju Singh as his emotional mother (remember her from the Doordarshan days ?), Darshan Jariwalla as the match-maker uncle and Dilip Joshi as Yogesh’s brother Jitu bhai.
Gowariker who lends his sensibilties to thoughtful dramas quite well, fails here to peddle romantic fluff. Keeping extra footage which you might absolutely love as director might work in ponderous drama, but in a film genre where short, sweet and pithy works best, it’s a pity that the editor’s scissors didn’t go snip-snip a bit more. Thus while this film would be a good DVD watch, it’s hardly the warm-n-fuzzy romantic comedy promised.
Kidwise : This gets a PG rating – some suggestive clothes/postures, some adult-oriented talk (virginity/affairs).
Tags : What’s your rashee film review, Film What’s your rashee, What’s your rashee movie review
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