I am this special kind-hearted critic to movies which get thrashing more than what they actually deserve. Actually, that was the premise of me starting a blog ' I started off with a review of Saawariya ' which got bit too much of criticism. Bechara Sanjay! Bhansali, that is Ranbir's towel didn't drop but his reputation did so for sure. Trying to give a peacock blue and green tone to the screen, he was panned as a blue-film maker. You can obviously imagine his plight from the fact that in his next movie ' Hrithik has this long beard and he can't walk ' so no chances of being panned as a blue film maker once again. Yeah, Saawariya did have his sore points but there were good things about the movie as well ' sets, costumes, music, styling there were aspects of it which I liked and I felt people should appreciate
Never mind, cut from Saawariya to 'What's your Raashee'. Now, obviously if you have made Lagaan, Swades and Jodha Akbar prior to this, the expectations from your latest offering increases manifold. And so when you move away from patriotism, heroic activities, royal charm and try a rom-com, things can look awry ' especially to an audience who has been expecting greater stuffs. Many people thought Asutosh Gowariker has lost his nuts when he started quarreling with Sajid Khan in some awards ceremony, and the new film has given them an ulterior chance to carry on with the same opinion.
The critics are just lambasting the movie ' left, right and centre. Jesus man, I mean Krishna man! Yeah, I agree that WYR did have its sore points the long duration, the extra subplots and too many songs. The Darshan Jariwala ' detective track is ridiculous, so is this bhai rampaging for money. But, the highlight was always supposed to be Harman and 12 Priyanka plots. That's what I went in for. And that's what I liked about the movie. Besides, when David Dhawan or Anees Bazmee makes senseless comedies, the critics love them for that. But if Asutosh Gowariker makes a not so sensible rom-com, you don't need to blast the movie just because it's his movie.
I liked the way Ashutosh treated the 12 different plots, infusing life into most of the stories. And Piggy Chops, oh Piggy Chops, she was mindblowing in all her avatars. So, Harman found out that women are of 'just' 12 types and he met all of them. And each chehra can be that of her 'sapno ki rajkumari'. Hmm if all of them are Priyanka Chopras, it gets pretty tough to decide. Well, it would be for sure. Actually, Harman wasn't bad either in this movie. He moved away from the Hrithik clone image that people had given him. In fact, he was much better in his stories with Priyanka Chopra-s, rather than his portion without her. Now, if its Priyanka's magic or stupidity of the other plots, that's tough to say.
You have a small town girl trying to impress the NRI hero with memorized English lines, wine and smoking show offs just because she wants to move away from her family suppressing her all the time. You have a girl who wants to be rejected so that she can marry her Indo-African boyfriend, a lower middle class girl with a past her family wants to keep secret from the world, a college goer who wants to take her time to know the lad, the dancer who blasts Harman for showing inhibitions towards gola, the horny astrologer who wants to sleep with Harman, the doctor who wants to work for the under privileged in India, the millionaire's daughter who pretends lunatic to find out the real intentions of the dulha, the CBI suspect corporate honcho who is ready with the pre nuptial agreement etc.
Yeah, I had my inhibitions about the choice of final bride. And I was also confused which raashee she was from. Guess from Gemini! But, the novel concept of the director and his attempt should be applauded. There's nothing majorly wrong about the movie, according to me, except for the length. In fact, except for the reviews I didn't get any negative feeling from anyone. All my friends who saw the movie had more or less the same stuff to say ' 'Decent movie', though not as great as Jodha Akbar; which was pretty much expected.
So, the final word is ' give the movie a dekho if u like sweet simple light hearted movies but don't get in with a huge expectation.
Souvik Gupta
This is a very good, balanced write up, Saouvik —-simply the best I”ve read about What’’s your Rashi. Though I”ve not seen the movie, yet from the description, it seems that Ashutosh Gowariker had been influenced by Sanjeev’’s Naya Din Nayee Raat, which was based on navras.