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.

Despite the fact that I am a die-hard fan of the Living Legend, Pankaj Kapoor from almost two decades, I am sorry that I am unable to praise his first film as a director with the same spirits.

The major reason for my dissatisfaction from MAUSAM remains its unexpectedly weak script having such strange sequences of co-incidences where the lead couple, suddenly meet each just like that both within India as well as abroad. And the most bizarre sequence among these was the foreign one (Switzerland), where Shahid is sitting in a train and he discovers Sonam standing there alone in the middle of snowy mountains with her packed bags and she is not even standing on the exact Station platform in a very questionable way. In fact throughout the film, they both keep bumping into each other, as if there is someone truly desperate to write their eternal love story from the sky above. At first they meet in Punjab, then Scotland, Switzerland and then towards the end, finally in Ahmadabad again. Particularly the shift from Punjab to Scotland puzzles the viewer hugely as there is no explanation given for that in the film itself.

The second big factor which works against the film is its near 3 hours long duration which is too lengthy considering its unimpressive story build-up. The whole first hour of the film says nothing except showing the culture of Punjab with some childishly executed comical moments focusing on a particular sect. Truly speaking, I never expected Pankaj Kapoor making fun of few SIKH characters in his self-directed film quite purposefully. As I felt the entire first half of the film could have been easily wrapped up in only 30-40 minutes which eventually could have saved it from getting so uninteresting and even boring. Post intermission too the story has nothing new to say other than the usual plot of misconceptions and gap of communication between the loving couple which becomes the only cause of their separation.

Frankly, in a romantic film, there is a basic requirement that the viewers must feel the love flowing between its lead couple and everyone should be able to relate with their heartbreaking departure from each other. But here, either the proceedings are too dead slow or they just jump from one point to another which never lets the viewer connect with its emotional storyline in the desired manner. MAUSAM is a pure love story of two innocent characters coming from distinctive religions, that's fine. But the entertainment factor remains completely missing throughout the film, which really becomes painful after a while. Neither the AIR FORCE PLOT insertion (which is only included to bring in the KARGIL event), nor the reference of various communal riots, suffered by different countries is able to pull the viewer in. However, the music does give you some soothing moments in this tiring never ending saga but sadly the soundtrack is again not "anything exceptional" from Pritam. As usual I also felt traces of the song "Om Shanti Om" from KARZ in the track "Tashan Mein Rehna".

The film is hugely over-length and tends to go on and on with more deliberately created situations in the plot (within a span of time of a decade), where the lead couple meets repeatedly after many long gaps. And one of these absurd co-incidence comes right in the end where they both meet each other once again in the middle of "Gujarat Godhra Riots" all of a sudden. This weakly written and unconvincing climax is also one of the major drawbacks of the film which tries to bring in Shahid as the only Savior Hero to save the Girl in the end and it simply doesn't justify their decade long love story from any angle.

Performance wise, both Shahid and Sonam have really worked hard for their respective roles having various shades and character transformations in the script. Shahid is surely better in the second half and looks like overdoing it in the Punjab part of the film. But Sonam is the real winner here since she perfectly underplays her role, exactly as required by the script. Probably this is her best performance till date, contrary to her fashion Diva image in the Industry. From the rest of the cast only Supriya Pathak and Manoj Pahwa register their presence impressively and Anupam Kher simply remains wasted.

In the end, I would like to share, that it strongly seems Pankaj Kapoor had only a one line idea before writing the script of MAUSAM, which must have been "A Love Story written around all the major Communal Hatred Events happened in India and abroad in the last two decades." Since he couldn't start with the Sikh Riots in 1984, so he begins from PUNJAB itself, with his Hero mentioning the BLUE STAR movement and its aftermaths in his dialogues. Talking about the homeless issue of Kashmiri Pandits, he then moves into the Babri Masjid Issue, followed by Mumbai Riots, Twin Tower Attack in America, Kargil Warin India and then ending it all within the Gujarat Riots on a positive note.

So, giving an extra star for this brilliant thought alone, I wish to give my best wishes to Pankaj Kapoor for his next directorial project, moving ahead of this forgettable first attempt called MAUSAM.

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 positives: Shahid Kapoor - one of his best performances; Sonam Kapoor: definitely her best performance; Cinematography: remarkable visuals; Music: some beautiful melodies; Dialogues: some wonderful lines, especially between Shahid & Sonam

The negatives: Editing: especially, in the second half - the film could have easily been cut by 30-40mins; The captions of each place really distracted from the movie & made it feel disjointed; Writing: could have been much tighter

I'd recommend it if you're a true blue romantic, who would want to invest time & emotions in a film.

Mausam (2011) - 40%

A Perfect Example Of How A Beautiful Story Can Be Ruined By A Boring Screenplay... Pankaj Kapur's "Mausam" Had Everything Which Could Have Made It Among The Top Romantic Films Of All Time, But Too Many Subplots, Weak Acting From Sonam Kapoor & Uninteresting/Unconvincing Premise Makes It A Dull Fare... Although The Soundtrack Is Fabulous & All The Songs Are Very Much Enjoyable, But They Can't Carry A Poor Film For Long & Eventually, Crash Landing Takes Place After Sometime... Shahid Kapoor, Supriya Pathak & Anupam Kher Perform Well & Save The Film From Being An Absolute Mess... Also The Film's Beautifully Shot With Several Eye-Catching Locations.