Recently,
Ashutosh
Gowariker
spoke
to
this
correspondent
about
how
he
went
through
a
transition
as
a
director
during
the
making
of
What's
Your
Raashee?
.
He
also
came
clean
on
the
reason
behind
his
films
being
more
than
three
hours
long
and
how
What's
Your
Raashee?
isn't
as
easy
and
fun
as
it
appears.
Today
he
gets
talking
about
the
casting
of
Priyanka
Chopra
and
Hurman
Baweja
in
the
film,
pressure
(or
the
lack
of
it)
around
him
after
the
failure
of
Love
Story
2050
and
the
chances
of
him
coming
back
with
Aamir
Khan,
Shahrukh
Khan
or
Hrithik
Roshan
again.
Coming
to
the
USP
of
the
film,
was
it
given
from
the
very
beginning
that
in
What's
Your
Raashee?,
there
would
be
one
leading
lady
for
all
the
12
roles?
Or
did
you
still
ponder
over
different
options?
From
the
word
'Go'
it
was
clear
that
one
girl
would
play
12
parts.
Our
lead
protagonist
Yogesh
Patel
(played
by
Hurman
Baweja)
had
to
select
one
girl
out
of
12.
If
we
would
have
chosen
12
different
girls,
beauty
would
have
been
the
prime
consideration.
Here
at
least
audience
is
assured
that
Hurman
would
eventually
get
Priyanka
Chopra.
So
now
they
can
sit
back
and
enjoy
the
scenes
with
all
the
girls
and
their
'raashees'
and
their
characters!
Once
it
was
decided
that
it
would
be
Priyanka
only
who
would
enact
all
the
12
roles,
did
you
actually
have
to
go
back
to
the
drawing
board
and
start
sketching
and
detailing
their
finer
details
and
graphs
all
over
again?
Here
I
am
thankful
to
Mr.
Madhu
Rye,
writer
of
'Kimball
Ravenswood'
for
coming
up
with
a
concept
like
this
and
presenting
such
fine
details
in
the
novel
itself.
The
written
matter
was
very
strong
and
we
had
to
just
get
a
few
layers
on
that.
Yes,
there
was
a
difference
though
because
the
novel
talks
about
12
different
girls
while
in
the
film
I
had
to
get
one
actor
playing
all
these
girls.
Moreover,
each
of
them
had
to
belong
to
18-24
years
age
group
and
come
from
different
backgrounds.
Our
team
had
to
work
hard
on
bringing
in
the
difference
by
making
changes
in
wardrobes,
costumes,
hairstyle,
mannerisms
and
then
leave
it
all
on
the
performing
power
of
Priyanka.
Of
course
we
had
several
reading
sessions
and
look
tests
so
as
to
ensure
that
Priyanka
indeed
comes
across
as
12
different
girls.
How
about
Hurman
Baweja?
You
roped
him
in
before
Love
Story
2050
released.
How
did
you
have
so
much
confidence
in
his
abilities
even
without
seeing
what
he
had
done?
A
lot
of
people
have
asked
me
this.
See,
the
fact
is
that
there
were
2-3
things
that
struck
me
about
Hurman.
I
was
looking
around
for
a
leading
man
for
What's
Your
Raashee?
when
I
heard
about
Love
Story
2050.
When
I
saw
the
rushes
after
requesting
Harry
(Baweja),
I
was
immediately
attracted
to
his
innocence
and
endearing
quality.
To
top
that
I
also
learnt
that
he
spent
a
lot
of
time
abroad
studying
cinema.
He
did
everything
to
earn
the
craft
and
be
skillful
rather
than
coming
with
the
attitude
that
'I
am
the
son
of
a
filmmaker
so
I
automatically
qualify
as
a
hero'.
He
is
so
passionate
and
dedicated
for
acting
and
performing
rather
than
just
becoming
a
star.
I
liked
that
a
lot.
Moreover,
he
is
a
very
good
dancer.
His
tuning
and
timing
was
good
with
Priyanka
and
I
thought
that
he
would
be
quite
good.
The
good
part
about
him
was
that
even
after
Love
Story
2050,
he
didn't
appear
to
be
under
any
pressure.
You
seem
to
be
showing
quite
some
confidence
in
your
actors...
See,
roping
in
an
actor
are
just
some
commercial
decisions
that
you
have
to
calmly
take
before
making
a
movie.
When
Jodhaa
Akbar
was
being
worked
upon,
Hrithik's
Krissh
and
Dhoom
2
hadn't
released.
It
was
being
said
that
Hrithik
couldn't
get
a
hit
without
his
father.
Now
all
that
was
of
course
a
myth!
Still,
when
I
announced
Jodhaa
Akbar
with
Hrithik,
there
was
an
immediate
reaction
that
how
could
Hrithik
be
Akbar!
You
must
have
been
terribly
disappointed?
On
the
contrary
I
welcomed
such
feedback.
This
is
how
you
realise
that
how
audience
is
reacting
and
thinking
about
a
particular
actor.
I
had
a
confidence
in
him
that
he
was
the
true
Akbar.
He
is
someone
who
is
naturally
a
prince;
whether
it's
his
approach
or
his
walk.
It's
just
that
when
there
are
adverse
reactions
to
someone's
casting,
you
have
to
give
that
little
25%.
We
said
to
each
other
that
we
are
going
to
make
it
happen
and
work
towards
that.
Same
happened
with
Aishwarya
Bachchan
going
all
out
for
being
Jodhaa.
From
Aamir
to
Shahrukh
to
Hrithik,
you
have
worked
with
the
best
of
the
best....
With
both
Aamir
and
Shahrukh,
I
have
been
a
co-actor
once
so
it's
quite
some
relaxed
atmosphere.
It
was
different
though
in
case
of
Hrithik
since
we
never
knew
each
other
before
talks
began
for
Jodhaa
Akbar.
But
then
with
him
you
can
share
a
lot
of
wisdom
about
cinema
since
he
has
seen
it
all
so
up
close
with
Rakeshji.
There
are
a
lot
of
diverse
views
that
can
be
expressed.
Something
similar
was
the
case
with
Hurman
too
since
he
is
again
from
the
industry.
He
is
highly
aware
about
how
movies
are
made.
Ever
thought
of
making
a
movie
with
them
again?
Yes,
I
would
love
to
work
with
these
people
again.
So
yes,
in
a
way
I
am
fortunate
to
have
had
an
association
with
these
actors.
(Smiles)
Strange
thing
is
that
each
of
these
actors
has
green
lit
some
very
different
movies.
The
decision
to
rope
any
one
of
them
again
would
be
driven
by
the
script.
I
always
want
the
script
to
allow
me
and
make
that
decision.
If
that
script
is
right
and
the
character
is
aiming
towards
a
particular
actor,
then
I
go
for
that
actor.
Story first published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 13:58 [IST]