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Monday, September 28, 2009



How many raashee's can you name??? Now can you also answer them by their Hindi names???

Hmmm… :D don’t know…??? Same here, I just know about Tula (Libra), which I fall into.

Here it is… Mesha (Aries), Vrishabha (Taurus), Mithuna (Gemini), Karka (Cancer), Simha (Leo), Kanya (Virgo), Tula (Libra), Vrushchika (Scorpio), Dhanu (Sagittarius), Makara (Capricorn), Kumbha (Aquarius) and Mina (Pisces).

Wanted and Dil Bole Hadippa brought smiles on the faces of Tradewalas and people are hoping things get fine from now on... This week saw the release of a romantic comedy "What's Your Raashee" starring Harman Baweja & Priyanka Chopra. This film is directed by somebody who is an actor, producer, writer and a super successful director Ashutosh Gowarikar. Ashutosh Gowarikar is the director of Academy Nominated Lagaan, Swades, Jodha Akbar, Baazi and Pehla Nasha. He is a voting member of Academy Awards. The film is jointly produced by Ronnie Screwvala (UTV Motion Pictures) & Ashutosh Gowarikar. Therefore, when you have a team of such highly acclaimed people behind a film, you expect it be something monumental. But, as Ashutosh Gowarikar said before that What’s Your Raashee? is a small film and you see a newcomer like Harman in the cast, you take it as a small film. But, as it is said, people who have made big can never make small again.

Expectations: Till Thursday night, I had a lot of expectations from the film, something really magnificent, but eventually after the film released and met some mixed reviews, the expectations were minimal. But, a film by Ashutosh Gowarikar, you still expect something plus you have a lady whose the first in the whole world to portray 12 characters in just 1 film!!!

Also, the real expectations were from the charming Harman Baweja. I really wait for the day when people will see his real potential and call him a great actor. I have said this for people like Abhishek Bachchan, Abhay Deol, Pritam in the recent past and would add Harman Baweja to the list.

Story/Screenplay: The story concept is something great which is adapted from a US based Gujju writer Madhu Rye’s novel “Kimball Ravenswood”. The novel has earlier been adapted into a 13 episode serial “Mr. Yogi” on DD National way back in 1989. Like I said before, Ashutosh Gowarikar has guts who thought of making this novel into a feature film. But, what happened to the writers when they were scripting the story??? No doubt the project of writing was always going to be a very big one, but four writers Naushil Mehta, Amit Mistry, Tapan A Bhatt and especially Ashutosh Gowarikar could have managed that. The film could have been a lot better if the script was good. Disappointing.

Acting: If the script disappoints, the acting impresses big time!!! I just loved everybody, right from the supporting casts to the main lead. Harman Baweja is damn good, I just loved him. People who avoided this film because it has Harman Baweja I would request them to give this film at least one chance. He will soon establish himself and I am sure about this. Another thing I would want is that from now on Harman should take some supporting roles or move to offbeat cinema and start afresh. Priyanka Chopra, the would be world record holder, wufff,,, this actress was literally struggling last year with soo many flops and now she has about 4/5 films in hand, best actress trophy and possibly another best actress next year too… She has reached another milestone with this film. Portraying 12 characters with such ease can only be done by an experienced actor, she did it. Career best performance for Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja. Superb

Music: Having my feats firm on the ground, I would like to say something about myself, off late I have started having some great music sense.

From the day when the music of What’s Your Raashee released, I was mesmerized into it, people used to ask me what’s so good in it, useless music, weakest for any Gowarikar film and now you see the same people have all the songs in their playlists. I would say the best music for any Gowarikar film soo far.

I love all the songs, the lyrics is plain and simple which adds value to it. Full marks to the new composer “Sohail Sen”who has done something really appreciable with the music and background score of the film. There was another composer who did something really good in his debut film “Saawariya”, but failed to meet the expectations there after. I wish Sohail Sen takes a different root and reach the top. I can bet on one thing, when the award season starts, Sohail Sen is sure to get something, atleast a RD Burman award at Filmfare. Brilliant

Direction: I thought about a lot of films on Raashee’s or for that matter Astrology; but, unfortunately I couldn't think of any. I must say Ashutosh Gowarikar has guts that he thought of something like this.

After directing films like Lagaan, Swades & Jodha Akbar, nobody takes a risk like Ashutosh Gowarikar took making a romantic comedy that too of a length which I don’t think any romantic comedy has ever been made. When the film was launched, I remember reading an interview where Gowarikar sir said that I am planning to make a small film this time which would be a light hearted entertainer; I was really confused what will be the fate of the film. Imagine the person who has made issue based films so successful in the recent past, turning out to an entertainer. But, kudos to the person who broke the jinx and thought out of box for doing such a wonderful project, I can’t comment for anybody else, but for anyone who wishes to be a filmmaker, it would be a lifetime opportunity to work with this person for whom a small light hearted entertainer means 3 & half hours of magic, 13 songs, 13 stories in one with huge sets. Amazing sirji. Nothing much to say, I think the weakest direction from the last four films he made but definitely good enough. Good

Overall: What’s Your Raashee is an entertaining film. It's a bit too lengthy, but sometimes you do like to have something which you can keep watching, What’s Your Raashee is a film which falls in that category. Watch it for its unique concept, acting, music, direction.

Overall Rating: ***1/2 (GOOD)

Story/ Screenplay: **

Acting: ****1/2

Music: ****1/2

Direction: ***

Box Office Estimate: I don’t think the film would flop considering the fact it has been released in just 450 screens and has made decent collections over the weekend and Monday is also a holiday. I think it should be an earner.

FLOP/ Average

Recommended for families, friends and everybody who wants to be entertained but go with minimum expectations.

Different Themes
Written by Lovely

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11 comments:

  1. Good Review!! Keep Up!!

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  2. nice review man....reallly nice work..

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  3. people who have made big can never make small again... Love this line..

    and your review, fantastic..
    i wud like to add that though i review films too, but never tried a full fledged review.. and dude, our wave lengths match..!!!
    i doubt dere is any area or point where i diasagree.. and its getting bttr and bttr with every review..! keep up the the work..!!

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  4. Hey buddy,,,, good one yaar, il surely watch it once on big screen.Iam not aware of the directing and all stuff but il watch it for the acting and music. Thanx bro.

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  5. Thanks a lot for such humble words Shray,,, I am glad that our thinking matches,,, Its really rare that i find a person who thinks like me,,, :D I would also like to read your reviews,,, kindly write a few full fledged reviews,,, it"ll be a delight to read them,,, Thanks again,,,

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  6. thanks RJ bhai,,, i would explain you the directing part,,, u"ll enjoy it more,,,;)

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. thanx kabeer.. i'll try.. may be wake up sid onwards..!:)

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  9. Bikram you know what.... I'm not a person who could judge movies that good.... I may not be able to judge as to how good or bad your blog is with respect to the content of the movie....... When I read these articles it's just that I can tell you that the the write up has been really good........

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Thanks a lot for your interest in my world of writing. Feedbacks are really necessary for a person to grow and i would appreciate that. I will get back to you soon and would also request you to come back often as it boosts my spirit as a writer.

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