Directed By - Pankaj Kapur
Starring - Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Anupam Kher, Aditi Sharma
Its fine if the biggest hype of the year turns out to be a failure as a film, but with a name like Pankaj kapur associated with it, it is an absolute dissapointment.
Mausam is about a punjabi boy Harinder 'Harry' Singh (Shahid Kapur)and a kashmiri girl 'Ayaat" ( Sonam Kapoor) and their undying love which lasts for over a decade. We first meet the both in 1990 when they are 20 year olds in a village in Punjab. Harry is a happy go luck buy who is awaiting his confirmation letter for the indian air Force and Ayaat is a helpless kashmiri girl who has been sent by her father to punjab owing to the circumstances there (The Kashmir Riots of 1989). He falls in love, she falls in love and one day their romance comes to an end when ayaat without prior notice shifts to mumbai. Cut to seven years later its 1999 and Ayaat is living in scotland and Harry is now a decorated Air Force Officer who is sent there on an exchange program. Inevitably they meet, sparks start to fly and this time the romance is more serious and mature. He meets with her father and Uncle ( Anupam Kher- who shines in a small role) and they approve of him. Once again suddenly harry is called back to india to fght in the Kargil War. He becomes untraceable, Ayaat sheds buckets of tear, 2-3 songs are played. We find that Harry has become injured and his left hand becomes paralysed. All this while both cant track each other (one owing to the war suituation and another due to the jealousy of an ex). Cut to 2001, 9/11 shakes the world and chance brings them face to face again only to be seperated again due to a small misunderstanding. Cut to 2002 Ayaat lives in ahmedabad , Harry, now a distraught lover with a fully grown beard, comes there for a wedding. As is the case, the gujarat riots break out and finally they meet and live happily ever after.
At nearly 3 hours running time Mausam is painfully slow and superbly boring. The concept is noble where they are trying to show love with a backdrop of terror but it just becomes a case where the film totally loses its direction. The coincidences are too coincidental and situations and tensions create are too cliched. It'll be wrong to say that mausam doesnt have its moments. Few of the scens of the film are well directed especially the mehendi sequence and a subsequent scene in scottish restaurant, pankaj kapur uses a theatre like style to get through the emotion which is a brilliant concept. Direction for most part ranges from good to ok with the graph being constant at ok for long periods. The biggest problem of the film is the screenplay. I will just list it
1. It is horrendously long
2. It does not know where it is headed
3.Too many scenes are dedicated to whining
4. Some parts like the 9/11 are just uselessly put there to give it an international edge.
5. The climax is one of the worst we have seen in a long long time.
6. The kargil War sequence is neddlessly stretched.
Of the cast Shahid Kapur does pretty well as Squadron leader Harinder Singh. It is a controlled performace but nothing that others wouldnt have been able to pull off. Sonam kapoor looks gorgeous as Ayaat which takes the attention away from her acting. Nonetheless she is OK. Supriya Pathak and Anupam kher are as usual at the top of their games. The direction as i have said is like a sinusoidal graph.
All in All Mausma does not live up to its hype, its cast and especially to the man behind the lenses.
Its bad weather.
rating - 5.9/10
