Mausam

The allure of the first half of Mausam lies in the vintage love story which proceeds through unsaid words, unexpressed feelings, stolen glances and lots of melody (Pritam Singh). The affair which begins in 1992, before the demolition of the Babri mosque has an oriental charm to it and makes for some moments of great viewing. Mausam has lots to offer to the viewer who doesn't mind his cinema languorous, laid back and moody, with loads of beauty. The film tries to strike a balance between art and mainstream cinema and succeeds.

After a long time I watched a movie with calming effect. With all power fight movies in the cinemas, Mausam gives a shade of love and feelings.

Let's just cut to the chase here (something I WISH the movie had done): Mausam is a never-ending borefest. I will never be able to recover the 3 hours I spent on this movie, but I will use the next 5 minutes to help you save yours.

The movie tried too hard to be an epic. Other movies that tie together themes of romance and religious / political conflict (Bombay for example) do so with force and passion -- Mausam tries to be subtle, which is all well and good, but when you repeat the subtle message for THREE HOURS it begins to be less subtle, and terribly boring.

Mausam is an epic case of boredom. If I wrote that sentence 2000 times, and forced you to read it, you will get an idea of what this movie is like. Please save your loved ones from this gigantic wastebasket of a movie.

The only redeeming factor in this movie was Sonam Kapoor, who is quite beautiful and does her best to look good while playing an insanely boring character. Shahid Kapoor remains an average actor, but my wife tells me he's very good looking too.

" Mausam "could have been an artistic beauty but it ended up being an erratic Screenplay binding sequence of events which never looked in direct connection with the Characters in the movie and could well have been avoided. The only good thing about the movie is its Art Direction/Camera Work but when it comes to integral concepts of Script & Screenplay it fails on all notes. The other weak point in the movie is the Editing part and painfully slow pace with absolute no beauty in the dialogs & the chemistry between the protagonist & his beloved.

The first 40 Min's in the movie displaying the rural Punjab was the best part in the movie which will impress most of the audience with bunch of light moments of humor and the art direction as well. But when there should have been raising the bar & intensity , movie falls apart on all accounts. Pankaj Kapur has been one of those greatest actors which not only Indian cinema has been blessed with but he has equally stunning with his roles in TV Serials as well. But as they say " Not all Great Players make for Great Captains the same way Not all Great Actors make for Great Directors " although this is TOO early to say. Great Players or Actors always have Great concepts but what remains is the execution of those concepts in practical world.

Concept behind "Mausam" was to show how the chronological sequence of disasters all over world influences the bonding between two people in love .

Riots in Kashmir brings the girl (Sonam) to Punjab at his aunt's place where Shahid falls for the girl. Sonam teases Shahid to meet her in the morning at aunt's bakery to know her YES or NO. Now suddenly Babri Masjid demolition the same day makes entire family to move out of Punjab to Mumbai without notice which i believe was not in connection at all . I mean you can be seriously hurt with your sentiments but there was NO impact in the place you are living then WHY you need to move out of that place which looks much more safe for you then any other place in the country. And this was first bizarre change in "Mausam" rest of the movie from here on brings very erratic & irritating changes in "Mausam".

Suddenly next frame camera location changes to "Scotland" 1999 where both meet again , alas ! destiny my lord has all the privileges reserved for the movie characters !! Shahid is in air force now & Sonam family has settled in Scotland. Sonam calls Shahid to meet her father for marriage and the same day Kargil war breaks and Shahid leaves without notice. Girls's father dies & she moves to Punjab to check for Shahid with no luck and then moves to Ahmedabad and then back to Scotland. In the meantime Shahid calls her sister to meet Sonam and convey his message when Sonam is not there. And this Hide & Seek continues with frequent changes in Mausam like next 9/11 World Trade Centre and finally with 2002-03 riots in Gujrat . I seriously thought this movie will go till recent Delhi Blasts .

Climax looked be in shades of Maniratnam's "Bombay" with Gujrat riots in backgrounds and finally Shahid meeting Sonam but again looked unnerving and nothing intense to get in your minds , in fact that riot looked to have no effect on the ongoings between Shahid/Sonam. Movie fails to build connection with the audience and after such series of drastic events you do not even feel sympathy for any character in the movie and WHY should you ? Were any of them really affected by those events ?

I have said everything in above line, still i need to write 10 lines to qualified it as a valid review. Most importantly initial 40-45 minutes are awesome, movie is worth watching just because of this part. It clearly shows how a simple straight story can be so entertaining and heart touching, it was pure delight to watch that. Actually I was under the impression that it is going to be my best Hindi movie but then comes the real Bollywood in action: meaningless struggle, irrelevant side stories and all that crap you find in most of Hindi movies. But one again, I would suggest to give it a try, specially because initial part is better so you can leave the cinema anytime you want after that.

The story line was boring to say the least. The acting did not connect with the audience on any level.The immaturity of Shahid and Sonam Kapoor was evident from the onset of the movie. Even the content wasn't captivating to keep the audience remotely interested. So much so that I even heard a few snores in the theatre. Pankuj Kapur is a good character actor but direction isn't his forte. One irritant is that the movie abruptly jumps from one end of the world to another losing the flow that should have been there. Veteran actors like Anupan Kher have been side lined and under utilized.Except for a couple of musical scores its been a dull affair. I wouldn't advise watching this movie unless you looking for some shut eye.