what we are reading – EightandHalf
Few new song promos out this week. Putting it all together. First one is from Yashraj Films’ Pyaar Impossible starring Uday Chopra and Priyanka Chopra and directed by Jugal Hansraj. Second one is ‘give me some sunshine’ song promo of 3 Idiots. And the last one is from Ken Ghosh’s Chance Pe Dance. Enjoy!
Pyaar Impossible has nothing “impossible” to offer and Chance Pe Dance looks like come, count my packs!
The name is Bond. Ruskin Bond.
This one comes as a surprise. We had no clue about this development, though we make sure to track every move of one of our favourite filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj. In an interview to Indian Express, Ruskin Bond has given out the details of the story that he is writing for Vishal Bhardwaj. Its called The Seven Husbands. Last time they came together to create the magical Blue Umbrella. And this one, it already sounds delicious. Read on.
To quote Mr Bond….
Vishal asked me if I could do another story for him and I saw no reason why I wouldn’t. He liked a four-page short story of mine, Susanna’s Seven Husbands. I expanded it into a 200-page episodic piece that can be filmed. My protagonist is a femme fatale who bumps off her seven husbands… I had to find ingenious ways of bumping seven people off while writing the story. Not something that I am used to contemplating generally.
On Priyanka Chopra and some more….
I haven’t actually seen her films. She gives a lot of interviews on TV so I have seen her occasionally. My protagonist comes from an Anglo-Indian background, she is a beautiful lady, but reserved. She isn’t very glamorous like Ms Chopra and doesn’t try to charm men in obvious ways. I hope Vishal will keep that in his characterisation. She is very smart too. She even gives an old husband of hers an overdose of Viagra in my story, who of course can’t take it. No, no, I can’t give out anymore of the story. My only regret will be, I couldn’t be cast as one of Ms Chopra’s seven husbands. Guess I am too old for that (laughs).
Woohoo…Piggy chops goes chop chop! And its not big surprise that Vishal Bhardwaj is again working with Priyanka Chopra. The performance that she delivered in just 10-12 scenes of Kaminey, any director would want to repeat that act. You can read the full Ruskin Bond interview here.
Mr. Tapan, where are you ? You saw the film ? BTW, if you are wondering who is Tapan, click here and check the comments section. (People try too hard but going by our record, we can say that we rarely go wrong. Hope its not sounding too pompous)
And now back to the topic. Call it the Titanic or Ashutosh Gowariker’s Aag, What’s Your Raashee is finally out. Am wondering if Gowariker has checked his raashee predictions for the day! Because its going to be a long day of only bad news, or reviews!
Yesterday we put out a post on the film and placed our bets. Lets see if we got it right or not.
The film is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, produced by UTV, stars Harman Baweja, Priyanka Chopra and has music by Sohail Sen.
Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – Ashutosh Gowarikar is a fine filmmaker who has consistently strived to stretch the boundaries of mainstream Hindi cinema – recall the Oscar nominated Lagaan or the less successful but thought-provoking Swades. What’s Your Rashee is a gargantuan misstep. See it if you must – 1.5/5
Taran Adarsh (Indiafm) – On the whole, What’s Your Raashee ? is a king-sized disappointment – 1.5/5
Sukanya Varma (Rediff) – And boy, what a lady! Priyanka Chopra transforms into 12 new skins with astonishing distinction, voice and spirit. The actress reinvents herself into this unique individual every single time ranging from batty, bashful and boisterous. This is simply her show. If only it weren’t three and a half hours long – 2/5
Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – There is no easy way to say this. Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your Raashee? is an excruciatingly painful film to watch. For the most part humorless and misguided, the film lumbers along for an unforgivable three-hours-and-thirty minutes, during which even the most patient viewers might contemplate suicide – 1.5/5
Gaurav Malani (Indiatimes) – The mystery on who will Yogesh marry in the end doesn’t hold much thrill as he himself isn’t certain of his choice. He is confused with most options open till the end. The viewer is exhausted for the exit door is still closed – 2/5
Avijit Ghosh (TOI) – Size matters. A less-than-ruthless editor could have easily trimmed What’s Your Raashee by 45 minutes without compromising on its soul. Gowariker seems to have fallen in love with his own work. Too bad, his indulgence prevents the audience from doing the same – 3/5
Suranjana Nandy (Buzz18) – It’s too long. Too inane. And at times, very boring. Buy the DVD, in parts if possible but there’s no way you can sit through it in the theatre – 2/5
Kaveree Bamzai (India Today) – What we have is a boring long epic, with 12 Priyankas, 14 songs and a host of minor characters whom no one particularly cares about – 2/5
Khalid Mohamed (Aslibaat) – it’s too darn lengthy at three hours-24-minutes which actually seem like 300 hours-240 minutes. Or an eternity which called for two intermissions. Mera Naam Boredom anyone? – 1/5
Minty Tejpal (Mumbai Mirror) – Alarmingly, there is no depiction or debate about the crucial in between act – sex, and this in the land of Kamasutra. Now that our divorce rates are spiralling, sexual crime is getting more regular and perverse, isn’t it time we grew up and addressed that little point also? After all, we are a hundred billion strong, so we must have done something to get there – 1/5
On an average, its 1.5-2 for Whats Your Raashee. Its a mixed feeling at the end of the day. Happy that we predicted the direction in which it was going and we are spot on. Sad because we are yet not sure what is Gowariker smoking these days! Can anyone enlighten us ?
Blame it on Raashee! The film or his sun sign, we are yet not sure. But one thing is for sure – the film Whats Your Raashee (starring Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja) is UNBEARABLE! We might be jumping the gun here but heard that those who saw the film were pleading desperately for a gun! And some of them were even dead by the time it got over.
Today there was a press screening of the film. We managed to sent a spy who twittterd us some intersting every bit about the film.
Best part of the film – Interval!
Post interval – Am almost in a state of comatose. Wake me up before I die!
After sometime – BTW, there is ten minutes discussion on sampoorn sharirik sambandhan!
Me– Nishkarsh kya nikla (conclusion)
He – Thankfully none!
Moi – whats the point ?
He – That should have been the name of the film or atleast the tagline!
Conclusion – This is Gowariker’s Aag! Nobody can like this film. People might buy the ticket and go inside but lets see how many can come out alive after 3.5 hours!
Be ready to roll out the red carpet for the new member of the club whose preveileged members includes Subhash Ghai, Ram Gopal Varma, Sanjay Leela Bhansali among many others.
Are we surprised ? Naah. Everything was indicating in the same direction. Harman Baweja, Promos, Songs…we hated everything. Then came out the duration 3.5 hours, the Variety review and someone even leaked out the print! Seems this time even luck is not on his side. To read our earlier post on Variety review click here.
One person must be laughing out loud! Sajid Khan. And as someone said after the press screening, Gowariker deserves this one, he was taking himself too seriously, flying too high like Sanjay Leela Bhansali. This one will get him to ground. But its surprising that UTV gave him so much freedomand!
Ideally we should wait for the reviews. But am willing to stick my neck out and say this is going to sink faster than Titanic! Wanna bet ?
The first review of Whats Your Raashee is out! This one is from Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) where the film had its premiere. And as we told you in this post, Whats Your Raashee is indeed 3hrs 20mins long. Variety confirms it. So get ready with your pillows and bean bags if you plan to catch the film!
Back to the review or mini-review. Though the review doesnt say much but click here or scroll down to read the full review.
For an hour, “What’s Your Raashee?” — the first romantic comedy from director Ashutosh Gowariker (“Jodhaa Akbar”) — zips along on a silly premise: Returning home to Mumbai, a young and handsome Chicagoan (Harman Baweja) has 10 days to find a wife and earn Grandpa’s inheritance, lest his brother’s gambling debt bring the family down.
But as Baweja’s sweet Yogesh proceeds to “interview” each of a dozen ladies (all played by Priyanka Chopra), and the film stretches to a whopping 211 minutes, even Bollywood aficionados will consider breaking the engagement. Likable leads can’t guarantee a sizable dowry upon the pic’s Sept. 25 release.
Each with a different astrological sign (or rashee), Chopra’s prospective brides run the gamut. Girl No. 1 is ditzy; No. 2 is a hot microbiologist with, alas, a boyfriend; the gum-snapping third girl occasions a big dance number; the fourth is painfully shy, a victim of past heartbreak; the fifth is a fussy businesswoman who brings along a prenup agreement; and after the sixth, who believes in reincarnation, there are still six more to go. Two or three peppy songs prove woefully insufficient to sustain a 3½-hour trifle, however good-looking.
The film is an adaptation of the novel Kimball Ravenswood. We hated the music (Sohail Sen), the promos, and now it seems the film will complete the full circle! Should Harman Baweja look for a new career option? Think so. Its high time! And Priyanka Chopra might get her name in some record book for potraying 12 roles in a film but all she needs is just 12 scenes! Watch Kaminey, ask Vishal Bharadwaj!
The film will release in India on September 25th. Am in no hurry to book my tickets! Who knows, might have to watch it in 12 installments!
WTF!!! Yes, that was our first reaction when we heard about it! We know that Ashutosh Gowariker cant make films less than 3 hours and he got it right in his last three films – Jodha Akbar, Swades and Lagaan. All three films were longer than 3 hours.
But, Harman Baweja is not Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan! Also, there is no A R Rahman this time! The songs are fuckall, atleast we didnt like a single song in the What’s Your Raashee album. And this must be the longest romcom in the history of cinema! We are praying and how!
If gossipmongers are to be believed Ashutosh Gowariker is not happy with 3hrs 20 mins, he wants to keep it at 3hrs 40mins! Is he planning a filmy version of Mujhe Iss Film Se Bachao!
The promos look bad, the songs suck, Harman is horrible but we still want to see the film. Because we trust the director and 12 avtaars of Priyanka seems interesting idea! Very few actors get to do something like this! Sincerly hoping that Gowariker hasnt lost it like many others!
Imran Khan is the latest bollywood celeb to join Twitter. Karan Johar introduced him to it. Imran can be found at http://twitter.com/1mrankhan .
We have also updated the list of other bollywood celebs on twitter. Take your pick.
Actors
Priyanka Chopra – http://twitter.com/priyankachopra
Uday Chopra – http://twitter.com/udaychopra
Sonam Kapoor – http://twitter.com/sonamakapoor
Ritesh Deshmukh – http://twitter.com/Riteishd
Mallika Sherawat – http://twitter.com/MallikaLA
Gul Panag – http://twitter.com/gulpanag
Dino Morea – http://twitter.com/DinoMorea9
Ayesha Takia – http://twitter.com/Ayeshatakia
Lara Dutta – http://twitter.com/DuttaLara
Anushka Sharma – http://twitter.com/ANUSHKASHARMA01
Rahul Khanna – http://twitter.com/R_Khanna
Directors
Ram Gopal Varma – http://twitter.com/rgvzoomin
Shekhar Kapur – http://twitter.com/shekharkapur
Saket Chaudhary – http://twitter.com/sakiboy
Karan Johar – http://twitter.com/kjohar25
Hansal Mehta – http://twitter.com/hansal
Sujoy Ghosh – http://twitter.com/sujoy_g
Tarun Mansukhani – http://twitter.com/Tarunmansukhani
Madhur Bhandarkar – http://twitter.com/mbhandarkar
Kaizad Gustad – http://twitter.com/kaizadgustad
Music
Vishal Dadlani – http://twitter.com/V1SH4L
Shreya Ghoshal – http://twitter.com/shreyaghoshal
Others (Producer s/ Writers/ Magazine)
Pritish Nandy – http://twitter.com/PritishNandy
Shridhar Raghavan – http://twitter.com/ShridharR
Amit Khanna – http://twitter.com/amitkhanna
Bobby Bedi – http://twitter.com/bobbybedi
Filmfare – http://twitter.com/filmfare
We are sure, have missed many others. Do let us know.
WTF is this! Trust Bollywood to do it! And when its directed by Samar Khan, what else can you expect.
Its called “Make It Large – A Tribute to Michael Jackson”. If you are wondering whats the funda of “Make it Large”, then click here. If Shah Rukh Khan is here, can commerce be far behind. The video is produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Idiot Box. Even in this s0-called-tribute to MJ, its Royal Stag Seagram selling thier brand philosophy! The Red Chillies homepage even has a quote from Royal Stag’s VP (Marketing) explaining their brand connect with MJ! Trust the marketing guys to sell a dead man too!
The song is written by Vishal ( Of Vishal-Shekhar duo), composed by Vishal- Shekhar and features Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, KK, Shreya Ghoshal and Prabhudeva. The video also features Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Anoushka Sharma, Shahid Kapur, and Yuvraj Singh.
We think this is the worst tribute to Michael Jackson! The lyrics redifne the word corny, music is horrendous and the voices are all over the place. No two voices in sync! We really could have done without it. Do let us know what you guys think.
The first trailer/promo of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Whats Your Raashee is out. It doesn’t say much, doesnt even dare to go close to Harman Baweja. Just gives a glimpse of 12 avtaars of Priyanka Chopra. The film is produced by UTV.
Its based on Gujrati writer Madhu Rye’s novel Kimball Ravenswood. The film revolves around a young Gujarati man (Harman Baweja) who is looking for his dream girl (Priyanka Chopra), whom he must find in 10 days to save his family from an unforeseen ordeal.
So, will Harman Baweja finally get a second life with Gowariker or is Baweja already singing…hum toh doobe sanam, tujhe lekar doobenge!
As a friend told us, its Kanaadda yaar, anything can happen! Its mini-punjab. They love dhol-nagada!
So here is anything….Xclusive and first on Fight Club! Yashraj Films’ Dil Bole Hadippa and UTV’s Whats Your Rashi will have their premiere at the Toronto International Film festival.
Dil Bole Hadippa is by debutant director Anurag Sinha and stars Rani Mukherjee and Shahid Kapoor. And if the promo is any indication of things to come, we wold never dare to go to any film festival with DBH. But then, it might be a ticket event, the festival needs stars, bollywood sells in kanaadda and so the dots get connected easily.
Whats Your Rasshee is by Ashutosh Gowariker and stars Piyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja. The first promo is just out. Will soon put it up as a separate post.
Both the films will be in Gala Presentation segment.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 