No sweetness in this Rashiphal

After watching Whats Your Rashee you'd know why old is considered gold. Based on the same book, Kimball Ravenswood, that formed the basis of the 1980's television sitcom Mr Yogi, Ashutosh Gowarikar's new film isn't a patch on the TV show but does have its moments. Almost four hours long, Rashee bores the hell out of you at times for good intentions don't make good films. On learning that Yogesh Patel will inherit his grandfather's wealth on the day he marries his parents force him to return from Chicago to pack him off immediately. The reason is simple--Yogesh's brother has to repay huge loans to all sorts of people including a don.



Growing up with dreams of marrying for love Yogesh chances upon a book that tells him about the 12 zodiac signs and he decides to meet a girl from each sign before committing to an arranged match. This is his only 'chance' of allowing him to fall in love. Patel starts meeting women and ends up liking all of them. He meets a domestic simpleton, a closet wannabe model, a business tycoon, a hot microbiologist, a doctor, a dancer, a nubile nymphet and even a fifteen year old school girl.



And we still have four to go. To cut a long story short the ones he likes can't marry for some reason or the other. With pressure mounting from the domestic front Yogesh commits to the one his uncle, who is a marriage broker, chooses for him. Of course the Uncle has taken care of his brother's debt and like a true Hindi film everything miraculously falls into the right place. This is a film that tries to be too simplistic to find the soft spot in the audiences but fail as this ain't Lagaan or even Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.



Starting off resembling a TV soap (what's with the irritating background score) the film ends up looking like some concoction where situations and scenes repeat themselves. Just because Priyanka Chopra portrays all the twelve girls it should not mean that all the girls are introduced in a similar manner and that all meetings should have a song dedicated. While Priyanka Chopra works hard on the nuances of her characters, the script ensures that she fails as after a while the differences dissipate. Harman Baweja grows in confidence as the film progresses and is pleasant in most of the places. Any other actor would have made up for his inexperience but then who would have work agreed to work in a film where the female lead would end up hogging the limelight?



While watching the film as it enters its third hour you can't help but notice how lackadaisical Ashutosh Gowarikar could have been while making this one. The jokes start to drag, the gaps end up repeating themselves and the whole film suddenly resembles some typical 1980s masala fare as the players break into song number 9! Even with a decent supporting cast his script doesn't involve them to the level where the film would have benefited. This is clearly a film that was made in haste and comes across as some thing that tried too hard to make ends meet for the 'King of Grandeur' Gowarikar ends up shooting three songs in the same location--the hotel room where Yogesh sets up camp! Whats Your Rashee neither spoofs the whole process of arranged marriage neither does it make a big statement for it. In the end the film is a one time watch and will offer you many laughs, that is if you can endure the length.


The author is an entertainment news editor and works for many websites related to event, bollywood, music, movie, concerts and theater. Visit one more interesting article of author: Shankar Ehsaan loy - Live or http://www.buzzintown.com/bangalore/event_shankar-ehsaan-loy-live--id_137630.html