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What's Your Rashee? (Go See Wake Up, Sid Instead)
I never, ever thought I'd get sick of seeing Priyanka Chopra's lovely face, but hey, there's a first time for everything.
Went to see What's Your Rashee last night on a whim because I trusted Ashutosh Gowariker so much that I didn't care how far I had to travel (30 mins, so, ok, not too bad) or how many tests I had to study for. It was Ashutosh Gowariker, yaar! How could anything possibly go wrong?
Well. In the movie, Harman Baweja plays a guy who has to find a bride by the 20th of the month. He puts out some type of personal ad and, thanks to his dashing good looks, is flooded with responses. To narrow them down, he decides he will only meet one girl for each zodiac sign. All 12 of these women are played by Priyanka Chopra. YAWN. Here's the thing (in my humble opinion): Priyanka did a fine job of acting "different" for each character (and she deserves praise for this--this is the first time any actress anywhere has played 12 roles in one film!), but she just wasn't interesting enough to keep me entertained for 12 poorly written mini-stories. Gosh, I really feel bad saying that, because I could tell she tried to give each underwritten character their own identity. But the film was so drawn out that it was boring nonetheless, and I walked out feeling like Priyanka and I needed some space. Then we had her paired with a dud like Harman Baweja who's less exciting than my microbiology professor, and, well, there you have it (And this guy is supposed to play Siddarth's character in the Hindi version of Bommarillu?!?Say it ain't so!).
Why didn't Ashutosh Gowariker go the cameo-role route and have 12 "surprise" actresses pop up to represent each sign? Then at least I would have had something to look forward to other than the ending credits (literally--I spent most of the last hour praying that each woman would be the last and that we'd already covered all the rashees, only to discover, to my dismay, that nope, we hadn't met the Leo girl yet...ARGH!!).
I can't help thinking that the film may have worked had it been a more charismatic duo than Harman and Priyanka. I'm thinking Anil Kapoor and Sridevi could have pulled this off back in the day, or even better, what about Rani and Abhishek? Now wouldn't that have been a blast?
More bad news: The song picturizations were boring (except for the very last one which was really cool--see below under "The Good News") and awkwardly placed, a shame since most of them were actually really pretty. 90% of them felt like fillers. I cannot tell you how badly I am jonesin' for a good song picturization! Each new film seems to be let down after let down. :(
It was interesting(and quite bothersome) that it just seemed to be assumed that Harman's character was such a "good catch". Like he got to pick from 12 girls who would be just elated to end up with a guy like him. Sure, a couple of them said no, but they had external reasons for doing so like not wanting to leave India or rush into marriage. Why couldn't more of the girls just say no because...well, because they just didn't feel there was anything there? Couldn't there have been one girl who said, "I'm just not really attracted to you like that, but we can still be friends"?
One more nagging gripe and then I'll stop complaining: The ending wasn't all that, and there were stones left unturned a.k.a some of the subplots weren't sufficiently resolved. Not all of my questions were answered, and that sucks after you sit through a 3 hour+ snoozefest.
THE GOOD NEWS:
*Ashutosh Gowariker is still a kick-a** director, and the cinematographer did some nifty camera tricks. This certainly doesn't fall flat because of poor execution. The scenes were colorful and crisp and some of the shots were really gorgeous.
*Priyanka's so prrrety. And now we know that she's not afraid to bare down and scrub the makeup off to play a quirky character. I don't think Aishwarya would have played someone like, for example, Anjali (The first girl Yogesh meets).
*Harman is hot. Why couldn't I have bumped into him when I lived on Sunnyside and Ravenswood? ;) He's not a bad dancer, either, but I don't think he's half as good as he thinks he is.
*We see women with power and real jobs. One is a doctor, the other president of a corporation (at least I think she was president--she sure held a lot of clout).
*The last song was really neat. Like Aamir in Ghajini, its picturized on multiple Priyankas, and she does an awesome job of dancing differently for each character. Oh, and the guitar song was pretty, but got boring after awhile due to poor picturization.
And--**** BIG SPOILER ****--- Yogesh ends up marrying the girl with my zodiac sign! Hooray!(****END SPOILER****).
****UPDATE...LATER THIS EVENING******
After writing this post and reading Darshit's review, I went to go see Wake Up, Sid starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen. I really enjoyed it, so much so that it'll be awhile before I can say anything other than "Omg! That was so awesome!!!". So if you're looking for something to see this weekend, bypass What's Your Rashee and check out Wake Up, Sid instead.
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17 comments:
Haven't seen this, but from the trailers...think you're right about Harman, and know you're right about the music. Do you agree the length, more than the cast (not Ranishek, but still), is the big issue here?
IIRC, the book this is based on does not have 12 similar-looking characters. Gowariker's said he wanted the audience to root for a character (not actress) over others, so that's probably why. Somehow managed to not read the spoiler at the very end of your post, thanks for the alert! :)
Cheers.
PS: Told you you should've seen Swades (2004) first. :P
Why the need to diss Aishwarya? She has played characters with no makeup even one that looked disheveled and unkempt (Raincoat). Not her fault she is still beautiful with no makeup.
I love AG's movies but I could see immediately that WYR was not my type of movie. The premise sounded silly from the beginning.
Bollywood Fan--Yes and no. The length made it almost unbearable but if truth be told, I was tired of Harman and Priyanka "meeting" again and again by the 4th girl. Like I said, Priyanka's a fine actor, but Harman needs some work. Its too bad because he does have a likable quality to him--just doesn't show any passion ion his acting whatsoever. Interesting about the book! And here I was thinking Ashutosh got the idea from the book. One other thing the movie got right that I forgot to mention was that it didn't glaze over the fact that all of these women looked alike. In fact, Yogesh noticed the similarities between Girl #1 and Girl #2 right off the bat. It bothered him so much that he brought it up to his grandfather, who explained that he was really the girl of his dreams in all these other girls and that since she was the only one he truly wanted, her face would be all that he ever saw. Kinda cool, hey? Oh, and re: Swades. I don't know what I'm waiting for--Lol. I think I'm so sure I'm going to like it that I'm saving it for one of those days when I really need a good film. I'm one of those people who always save the best for last!
Anonymous--Oops! I love Aishwarya! I certainly didn't mean to make it sound like I was dissing her. As a matter of fact, I was just enjoying her and Abhishek's interview on Oprah; I missed it and caught it on Youtube. And I agree, she is even more stunning without makeup. I know she's done roles sans makeup, that's not what I was saying. But Priyanka's character I was referring to was more dorky than unglamorous. I meant that I couldn't imagine Ash playing a nerdy character, that's all. As for this movie, I agree with you. The plot didn't sound promising at all, and I went against my gut feeling (which was telling me to stay home, lol)because it was Gowariker.
So WYR isnt going to make Harman's career? Why am I not suprised? :-) Totally agree on your idea of getting a different actress for each of the 12 roles - seeing the same actress/actor over and over again is very boring (there was Naya Din Nayi Raat with Sanjeev Kumar in 9 different roles that could have been a pretty nice film if only they had invested in 9 different actors). But probably AG just didnt have the budget to get 12 big actresses.
The story sounds pretty similar to that of an old TV series on Indian TV which (I think) was called Mr. Yogi and involved a US resident Indian (Yogi/Yogesh Patel) who comes to India to pick a bride. Every episode featured a new candidate (who was NOT played by the same actress) for his hand.
PS: So glad to know Wake Up Sid is a fun film. I am hoping to see it this weekend and can now look forward to a fun 2+ hrs! :-)
Bollyviewer! I think you'll like "Wake Up, Sid"! It was very fun and touching, too. Wish we could have went to see it together!:)
And good point about the budget. I hadn't thought about that. And interesting about the serial!
I really enjoyed reading your post. You're a great read, Nida! I will probably miss this film now. But, we could do with something like Wake Up, Sid this very evening. Everyone nowty and frustrated. (Nowty isn't a Bollywood word but it's from Yorkshire - the next best thing round here!)
I just returned from watching Wake Up Sid and LOVED it! It was fun, and so touching too - totally my kind of movie. Maybe once the DVD is out, we can do a watchalong (the next best thing to watching it together in the theatre).
Thanks for the feedback, Nida. That's too bad but not too surprising, about Harman. And that *is* quite cool about seeing the same face after a certain point!
I remember watching (and liking, but getting bored by the last few episodes too) 'Mr. Yogi' way back in the day. The Indian Express WYR review suggests it was based on the same book as the film is, which sounds about right.
Have you seen Luck By Chance yet? I'll see Wake Up Sid (thanks for the note) eventually, but it'd be interesting to compare Konkona in both the films.
Oh, so glad you liked WUS. and thanks for linkback too.
Now, WYR.
Thats a great idea. Cameos for all 12 girls would have been fantastic. And after all, For 'Ashu's movie, any actress would be ready for doing the same. The only concern there would be the brilliance in performing each character. I don't think there are 12 girls, compatible to play these roles.
I liked the movie maybe cause I love watching things, GUJJU. and the songs worked for me. While PC was great, Harman was above average. So lets hope Its My Life would be life saver for him, otherwise he'll be third time 'unlucky'. :P
And yes, I will definitely recommend WUS over WYR. To all.
Joss-Aww, thank you! You should definitely take the "nowty" crew to see "Wake Up, Sid"! It was just sooo wonderful and definitely kept me in line for 2.25 hours. I was starving when I entered the theater and didn't think of my stomach once during the entire film!
Bollyviewer--Oh, I'm so glad you liked it! I just knew you would :) I'd love to do a watchalong when the DVD comes out--I already can't wait! It was just that good. So glad Ranbir got to finally do something that showcased his talent!
Bollywood Fan-- I have seen Luck By Chance, but was waiting to rewatch it and review(I borrowed it to my mother after I saw it and just got it back). I liked LBC very much, but lovved WUS. To me they are both good films but WUS has that dil-pleasing element to it that LBC did not. And Konkona was fabulous in both films, but to my surprise, WUS had so much more Konkona! Who would have thought? Yeah, she was really in this film alot and had much more character development in WUS than in LBC, in my opinion, at least.
Darshit--No problem! You know, if it wasn't for reading your review, I wouldn't have had such a perfect Friday evening (you convinced me to go see WUS despite my not liking WYR--the Hindi movie theater's kinda far so I may not have went again and would have missed out!). As for Harman, I hope so. He seemed likable enough. Kinda feel bad for the guy, you know? And about the 12 actors, I think I'd even have preferred 12 "unknown" actresses, like "Chak De"....
Thanks for confirming why I didn't want to watch it, hehehe.
I do want to see Wake Up Sid but went to see Dil Bole Hapidda instead. May blog about it soon.
Bips is suppose to have 13 avatars in her upcoming film, Pankh :)
Just saw this over the weekend Nida. Now that was a long movie, even by BW standards. I in knowing nothing much, so that we good, since I like a surprise. But I figured out before we even got to the 2nd sigh, that most likely Priyanka would play all of them. I was sidetracked by the sign order; i.e. if they started with Aries, why didn’t they continue in the “correct” Western order through Picies, but skipping around the chart ruined the flow in my mind. So then I started wondering about what then is the Hindu order for the signs, and if the similar signs had similar qualities. I did notice how the different signs exhibited the attributes they are supposed to have. So I decided that Harman is a poor man’s Hrithik and was good for the part, since his character is supposed to be a blank slate, right?
Good point about why did none of the women just say, “naaaaaa, no thanks.” But unlike you, I perceived that the Dr. character as well as the Gemini girl, who needed more time to decide, in essence turned him down and put themselves first. I cried at the first character’s (Anjali) dilemma about trying to escape her destiny in India and attempting to morph herself to do so. I thought that went from a really goofy scene to a very touching one very quickly and loved both Priyanka and Harman’s acting in that sequence. But best of all, just like you I am the sign of the “winning” girl, which is a funny twist too astrologically, since that sign (not saying too much to prevent spoiler alert) is supposed to be so quirky and independent, so to end up being the one to settle down was somewhat unpredictable, but I suppose in India, there’s not too much of a choice for foregoing marriage. Thanks for the great post. So fun to be able to “talk” about these movies with someone else. And thanks for the tip from you and Darshit regarding seeing Wake Up Sid, which looked much less interesting to me than WYR, so now I’ll have to see that too.
All the best!
Sita-ji
p.s. I kept wanting to see Rani do all the parts even though I loved Priyanka.
Hi Nida! I'm not surprised you didn't end up liking this, to be honest. It kinda had "lame" written all over the previews. Ashutosh Gowariker should've gotten a new editor for a rom-com. (And on a side note, I'm not surprised you loved WUS--Ranbir FTW!) I'll still see it when I'm at home and have the DVD remote on hand for necessary fast-forwarding.
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