I got the chance to attend the world premiere of the movie “What’s Your Raashee?” at the Toronto International Film Festival this past weekend at Roy Thomson Hall. I sat in the very last row so admitedly, I didn’t get a great view but the movie itself was still very enjoyable.
“What’s Your Raashee?” is a Bollywood (Indian Hollywood) movie that I can see having great reception in mainstream North American theatres. This was actually my first experience with a Bollywood film so you can take this review with a grain of salt.
The premise of the movie involves an NRI (Non-resident Indian) played by Harman Baweja who needs to go back to India to find a wife. He decides to interview 12 girls, one from each raashee (zodiac/star sign) to find his most compatible match. All 12 girls are played by the beautiful Priyanka Chopra (she is playing 12 different characters) and hilarity ensues.
Being a romantic comedy, it was a pleasure to watch although it was hard to get past Harman Baweja’s poor acting at the beginning of the film. Once you see past the forced and unemotional delivery, the story really starts to shine. Priyanka is absolutely brilliant in all 12 roles although I found some of the characters forgettable and shallow. At a couple points in the movie, I was confused as to which character she was playing but that may be partly because I’m not used to distinguishing Indian names.
I also found that the couple of side stories didn’t serve to add much to the movie, but rather served as comedic relief. The movie itself was also very long, at almost 4 hours. I’ve been told that many Bollywood movies are around this length but if you take out all the dance numbers, the length would be much more manageable, but then it wouldn’t be a true Bollywood movie then, would it?
All in all, “What’s Your Raashee?” is a pleasure to watch, in fact it’s got me interested in the whole genre of Bollywood films. Any recommendations for Bollywood classics?
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Bollywood is funny to people seeing their movies for the first time. Their offerings remind me of the classic musicals, where song and dance routines break out regularly….a bit of a shock to the palate that is used to western films, but entertaining nevertheless. Not quite my cuppa tea however!
Sounds like its worth seeing when it is officially released, thanks for the review Jon.
Bollywood since Slumdog Millionare is so hot right now
Prianka Chopra is very good actor but not for Hollywood actress level
Thanks for the recommendation. It does sound like it has a hilarious premise.
Actually, a lot of Bollywood films come out every year. I think it even surpassed the number of Hollywood movies.
If you want to watch Bollywood classics, I would strongly recommend Sholay for action and Mughal-e-Azam for drama and romance. Please do let me know what you thought of these movies.
Thanks for the post. Some scenes are quite funny like Harman’s first meeting with Anjali, the Arien, Vishakha is funny in a bratty-sort of way, Nandini’s transformation and the way she rattles off Chicago landmarks with a twang is entertaining. The scene with Hansa is simple and sweet. Sanjana is as normal as it gets. Rajni takes her PA everywhere and treats marriage as a contract is unbelievable. Thankfully, the humour isn’t slapstick. Dilip Joshi and Darshan Jariwala are funny.
I love the bollywood style which is becoming more mainstream every day. I have yet to see a full bollywood movie but love some of the music videos on youtube
bollywood produce more movies per year than hollywood.
Priyanka Chopra is yong beautiful actress
i love her eyes 
For Bollywood classics check out Awara (Raj Kapoor was the great showman – something like Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg rolled into one – 1951), Sholay(its dialogues are part of folklore in India- 1975), epic & historical Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Padosan (humor – 1968) , Anand (humor – 1970) the coming-of-age movie Dil Chahta Hai (2001) , gangster movie Satya (1998), bollywood style ‘Othello’ adaptation Omkara (2006) come highly recommended from me
Vishal Bharadwaj, Anurag Kashyap are some of the better directors in Bollywood today.
I am planning to watch this movie. And your review helped me a lot . After reading your review I think this movie will be worth watching. I love Indian movies, it’s full of entertainment. Who wants loose the chance of watching 12 characters played by Priyanka Chopra. It’s like watching 12 movies of Priyanka Chopra. Thanks for sharing.
Priyanka Chopra is stunning. I actually enjoy some of Bollywood’s creations. Of course Slum Dog , but also Bend It Like Beckham, I believe was one and for the life of me I actually have downstairs in my dvd library at least 10 good films. Most with beautiful direction and believable actors. Many of the plots are the weakest link. I will try to repost with the films I think are worth watching.
One note, for some reason Bollywood are the propensity to all of a sudden add a Bugsy Berkley song and dance extravaganza. it is quite funny, but colorful
Cheers
Maybe I am a woman, but still give me a break… Those Bolywood productions are so bad, that even Transformers 2 could stand with them to Oscars. Really, I know that Indian productions are specific but they are also like fairy tales for little children. Their level is so low that compared to them even Holywood should not feel shame about latest American productions.
Their offerings remind me of the classic musicals, where song and dance routines break out regularly….a bit of a shock to the palate that is used to western films.
I thought of watching this movie as the review of this movie was good but when i got review about Harman’s other movies I was depressed and didn’t see this movie. But now i thinking of watching of this movie as this is a experimented movie on Priyanka Chopra.
i love Bollywood is funny to people seeing their movies for the first time. Their offerings remind me of the classic musicals, where song and dance routines break out regularly….a bit of a shock to the palate that is used to western films, but entertaining nevertheless. Not quite my cuppa tea however.
Hi jon
Nice to read what you think about Bollywood movies
I have grown up on them. I didn’t particularly catch “What’s Your Rashee” but its nowhere one of the best Bollywood movies made.
Yes, the sing-and-dance sequence is our forte, we Indians enjoy all of that a lot. Maybe you can catch “Om Shanti Om” which is another 3-hour ordeal and a spoof on the 1970s cinema.
Another great idea would be to get hold of “Singh is King” a loud, nonsensical yet fun movie with lots of foot-tapping numbers
Nice post.