Writer: Janak

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Watch this if you liked: "Mr Yogi", "When Harry Met Sally"

After three projects with themes of history and patriotism, director-producer Ashutosh Gowariker finally manages to fulfill his dreams of doing a rom-com.

Many say Ashutosh is always known as an actor's director. From his previous movies, every leading man in his films has won Best Actor awards. It's different this time around, as lead actress Priyanka Chopra is the one who drives the movie instead of the male lead, Harman Baweja. Let's see if Priyanka and Ashutosh will manage to reproduce that winning combo, as she did execute her role quite well in the movie. As for Harman, a slight improvement can be seen, despite being overshadowed by her most of the time. The two have shared the screen previously in Harman's first movie ("Love Story 2050") previously.

Plot wise, it's very weak but thanks to the 12 different avatars, the movie had something to keep you interested. Introducing each zodiac character seemed repetitive and boring. Spanning more than three hours, the movie could have done without this. Cinematographer Piyush Shah lifts the boredom by providing a backdrop shot extensively in Mumbai and also some locations in Italy.

The music might come as a surprise to many, as AR Rahma's name is nowhere to be found in the credits. He is the one who has been the main contributor in all Ashutosh movies from "Lagaan" (2001) to "Jodhaa Akbar" (2008). We see instead the name Sohail Sen, an unknown music director to Bollywood. Sohail uses more contemporary western influence. The songs are not that great but some songs are quite listenable at times. Perhaps with a few more projects in the pipeline, Sohail will get his tunes more organised.

One interesting fact about this movie is that Priyanka Chopra made it into the Guinness World Book of Records for playing 12 different characters in one movie.

Overall, this is a very rare attempt by the director for trying a different genre. Unfortunately, the movie is not that great compared to other movies under this belt and one can foresee an audience already waiting for his next offering even before the movie really ends.


Cinema Online, 29 September 2009