Mausam - Movie Review |
| 'Mausam' is a tiresome watch |
| By Naresh Kumar Deoshi |
| Fri, Sep 23, 2011 11:27:24 GMT |
| The ApunKaChoice movie review of Mausam Some love stories may be timeless, but that doesn't mean that the teller of such tales should have scant regard for the time of the audience. Pankaj Kapur, who, as an actor, has all my respect, spins a never-ending, forever meandering yarn called Mausam that unspools over a period of 22 years, through many seasons, half a dozen cities and gaons, and four historical events before mercifully culminating after three good hours of our patience test. One could be forgiven for thinking that a whole darned mausam passed by outside as one sat cooped up in the theatre through this bum-achingly long saga where ages pass before the muted lovers utter their first expression of affection. Clearly, Mausam is a film belonging to the old world romance, where the lovers spend a good part of their dalliance watching each other from a distance, and when they do meet they communicate through sweet musings doodled on chits of paper. One can't say how much this film will appeal to the Facebook generation where relationship statuses change overnight and those 'three special words' and much more is said and shared without even being fully sure that the person on the other end is indeed the one in the profile pic. So you see a young Punjabi munda Harrinder aka Harry (Shahid Kapoor) cycling through the puddles of his village Mallukot and chewing on sugarcane with his buddies in sarson ke khet before he is hit by the thunderbolt called love when he sees a preternaturally tall but decidedly cute Aayat (Sonam Kapoor), a Muslim girl from Kashmir. Obviously Harry woos and serenades the Kashmiri kudi but their love story is nipped in the bud, thanks to the first historical event, the demolition of the Babri Mosque. Mausam one over! Likewise, Mausam two, three and four arrive and pass by as Harry, now an Indian Air Force pilot, and Aayat, still gorgeous as any Kashmiri girl, meet and separate and meet and separate again as this love story flits from Scotland, Switzerland, America and Mallukot right down to the riot-hit Gujarat where the family picture is finally made complete with Harry, Aayat, an orphaned child, and…guess who?…a horse! Pankaj Kapur describes Mausam as "a love story beyond romance" and he makes it so by setting this tale of love between a Punjabi boy and Muslim girl against the backdrop of four events of communal and religious significance: namely, the unfortunate demolition of the mosque, the Kargil war, the 9/11 attacks, and the Gujarat riots. The idea clearly is to tell a love story dovetailed with a message of social and communal harmony. The intention deserves respect, but how one wishes Kapur had practiced a bit of restraint rather than fire on all cylinders to make the lovers writhe endlessly with pangs of separation. Even the visual quality in some scenes (like the riots or when Shahid chances upon Sonam in Switzerland) is compromised. And the air combat involving Shahid has such tacky special effects that the IAF almost stands vindicated for its objection. Performances are strictly average. Shahid tries to make the best of the bad job by his dad but remains the typical cute loverboy transmuting into a somber gentleman while Sonam is the dainty damsel in distress from start to end, save for a few flashes of her moony smile. The songs composed by Pritam drip with melody a tad sugary for our eardrums. To be fair, Mausam has a few moments that stick with you. The unspoken dialogue between Shahid and Sonam in a Scotland caf, the rainy evening they spend huddled inside a pipe, or a brief moment between Shahid and Aditi Sharma on a train, are such glimpses of brilliance. But they are few and far between. And oh! the film is almost void of humour. The only instance when I had a hearty laugh was when a partially paralyzed Shahid saunters down an avenue in Scotland and the song that plays in the background has the lyric: "Poore se zara sa kum hai (slightly less than the whole)". All in all, Mausam is a tiresome watch. Rating: 2 stars out of 5 |
Four Seasons. Four Colors. Four different age groups of protagonists. Four true historical events. This is what constitutes – Mausam. The love story in its first season starts with mere adolescent attraction between a Punjabi boy Harry (Shahid Kapoor) and a Kashmiri girl Aayat (Sonam Kapoor) in a small village of Punjab. It develops into young love between them in season two. Their love realizes its own depth in the hours of separation through season three. In the fourth and final season their love culminates into togetherness. But not before sacrificing a lot personally and learning the truth behind universal love. Mausam is a passionate love story which sees, as its background various shades of life, questioning us and yet not becoming indulgent – truly a love story beyond romance. Pankaj Kapur shines as a story teller. But the screenplay is a sheer drag (in both the halves with the film running close to three hours) and that slows down the pace considerably which diverts and even divides the audience interest after a point. But the well penned dialogues act as a silver lining and do some damage control. As a first time director, Pankaj Kapur displays an extraordinary flair of the art and makes best use of his creative skills. He has handles a difficult subject with maturity and a rare understanding. Performance-wise, Shahid Kapoor showcases his best work so far and impresses with a stellar act. He looks good in all his get-ups and he's simply outstanding when it comes to his acting. Sonam Kapoor plays the girl-next-door close to perfection and enacts her part well.
Music by Pritam is a highlight especially the 'Rabba' song. Lyrics by Irshad Kamil evoke the right emotions and the pathos of the lovers. Cinematographer Binod Pradhan succeeds in capturing the countryside as well as scenic locations like Austria, Italy, Spain and UK to its optimum level. Sound by Subhash Sahu is alright. Editing by Sreekar Prasad could have been far better as the film has scope for some major trimming and reducing the film's length by at least 20 minutes would make the film a lot crisper and that would only help the film further. Choreography by Ahmed Khan has the best moves and steps for Shahid and he does full justice to it. Action by Sham Kaushal looks real. All in all - mystical, magical and mesmerizing – that's 'Mausam' for you! |
Thu, 22 Sep 2011 Rating: Mausam is flawed and tiresome but still has a good chance with people who are simply in love with love. - Mansha Rastogi It takes a lot for any actor to give away two years of his career for a film. And when one does, expectations from him peak to extreme extents. Shahid Kapoor might just be facing the same. After almost two years, the actor is making his way to silver screen with his father's ambitious project Mausam. The film has already been the centre of controversies first with the Indian Air Force's disapproval and now the Railway ruckus. Now it only remains to be seen whether it meets people's expectations or not. Mausam is a love saga of two star-crossed lovers Harinder Singh aka Harry (Shahid Kapoor) and Aayat (Sonam Kapoor) who keep meeting and separating time and again due to their ill-fate that works against them each time. Harry, a Punjab da munda first meets Aayat, a troubled soul displaced from Kashmir due to the political problems going there in small village Mallukot in Punjab. They meet, a vintage style love story sparks between the two and before the two can confess their love to each other comes the first twist, Aayat suddenly moves to Mumbai and Harry takes to further education as an air force pilot. Seven years later, the two meet again, this time in Scotland. Love reignites, but this time Harry disappears; Courtesy Kargil war. This happens twice over again and the ill-fated lovers keep hoping that they may re-unite someday. How they come together EVENTUALLY, follows through the rest of the plot. If you think that even the concise version of the plot appears long, then wait till you see this film. With a run time of nearly 3 hours, Mausam is painfully long and can easily pass off as a never-ending saga. Mausam's tagline 'A love story beyond romance' definitely holds true to itself as there are almost all the political events included in the film that occurred between 1992 to 2002 and surprisingly each and every event affects the lives of the couple. Mausam opens to a breezy, rustic and scenic Mallukot. The way filmmaker Pankaj Kapur weaves the love story with the backdrop of the small town in Punjab is very poetic. You almost get engulfed into the fascinating setting of Mallukot. The seedy lanes, the lush green farms and the joint terraces of bungalows; each and every frame is artistically captured by cinematographer Binod Pradhan. The chemistry between Sonam and Shahid remains consistent throughout the film and is praiseworthy. Right from the coyness in their love when they first meet to the intensity in their romance when they first kiss in Scotland, every aspect is well-defined. Shahid as an Air-Force though may resemble Brad Pitt of Inglorious bas***d but Shahid with all his boyish charm as a mischievous villager is very pleasing. Sonam struggles to act but appears extremely beautiful throughout the film and shares some of the most brilliant scenes with Shahid. The music of the film by Pritam brings out the romance and the longing of the couple brilliantly too. Supriya Pathak, Manoj Pahwa, Anupam Kher and almost each and every character actor contribute in making a film worthy. But despite many awesome moments in Mausam there are also many moments in the film that are bothersome. The biggest being its clichd predictability. Even before a scene unravels on the screen you know what you are about to see. Moreover, the excessive usage of unsettling political events is tiresome and annoying. The script appears hugely flawed in the second half and hence makes people lose interest in the film. The climax of the film is highly filmy and would either make you red on your face or would make you laugh and the clichd execution. Some of the dialogues too are very philosophical and serve as irritant. The highly controversial action sequence of the fighter planes is just about 2 minutes long and very amateurish. One barely gets a feel of an air force raid. To sum it up, Mausam is flawed and tiresome but still has a good chance with people who are simply in love with love. |
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Mausam Has Strong Start In Rajasthan And CI
Friday 23rd September 2011 15.30 IST
Mausam had a strong start in Rajasthan and CI especially in the single screens. The noon show at Rambha and Rangmahal in Bhopal was 100%. Rajasthan was very good with Jaipur having 80% collections over the first two shows.
The single screens in UP like Gurdev in Kanpur and Prabhat in Dehradun were also 100%. Overall the single screens have started on a better note than multiplexes in these areas.
The multiplexes in the North also showed a better response in the afternoon shows and the film may eventually have a good to decent first day if the evening shows improve further.
Edited by you2 - 12 years ago
The boy and girl first meet in the back-alleys of their Punjab village, where love finds seed instantly, aided by ink and mehndi cue cards that the twosome exchanges in silent conversation. Alas, they are destined to separate, only to reunite in the lushness of Scotland. The boy is now an Indian Air Force pilot while the girl is learning the ballet. Though they're older and wiser, perhaps, the romance is still quite fresh and enticing enough to watch. You hope they'll stick together this time, but fate intervenes again, to draw the boy away into war. The romance hits pause and you begin to lose interest, it fading away as the post-war hero runs into his girl once again in the iciness of Switzerland's Euro rail, only to part again. It is at this point that you give up on the film, so much so that when the couple is finally reunited in the most random of ways in Ahmedabad a few years later, you find you simply can't care about this pair anymore, content to just be rid of this dragging affair. That's a good thing, perhaps, for it is towards its very end that Pankaj Kapur's Mausam gets quite ridiculous.
Great actors don't make great directors, one supposes. That disappointment held true a few years ago, when Naseeruddin Shah turned to film-making with Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota, and with the great Pankaj Kapur turning director here, it still seems to hold true, though only in parts. Aiming to tell an epic love story, Kapur certainly has his heart in the right place with Mausam. However, it is in the way that he gets indulgent at a few too many places, that the first time director seems to be lose his way more than a bit.
Kapur's story deals with the romance between Harry (Shahid Kapoor) and Aayat (Sonam Kapoor), a decade-spanning love story which blossoms all over the globe through trials and tragedies. Clearly, this must count as one of the unluckiest couples in the world, uncannily managing to find their way into the midst of virtually every tragedy to befall India between the early nineties and noughties. Still, when the two first meet in the lanes of Mallukot, the chemistry between Harry and Aayat is undeniable, the two dancing away their cares at the former's sister's wedding. While Harry is the handsome Punjabi son of a Mallukot professor, the graceful Aayat is the only daughter of a Kashmiri Muslim who is fleeing the valley with his Kashmiri Pandit best friend, while his daughter is safe at her Fatema bua's (Supriya Pathak Kapur) place in Mallukot.
Tragedy strikes though, just when the two are ready to confess their love, as the Babri masjid is torn down, and Aayat's family flees to safer havens. By the time they meet seven years later, Harry has turned into IAF Sqn.Ldr. Harinder Singh while Aayat is a ballet dancer living and running an Indian store in Scotland with her dad and his best friend, who she affectionately calls Machu (Anupam Kher), diminutive for Maharaj Chachu. Love takes root again, this time over a dinner table where the two seem to have a literal heart-to-heart. Just when the two are ready to make it official, however, Harinder is called away from his Scottish exchange program to Kargil, where he goes down in battle, coming back handicapped and losing touch with Aayat again, who has abandoned Scotland looking for him. Searching for her everywhere, he does encounter her again, though she doesn't know, as he finds her in a Swiss train, sleeping on the shoulder of a man he doesn't know, with a child in her lap.
Ultimately, by the time Harry and Aayat reunite in Ahmedabad in the midst of the riots, they've taken so long to get to the point that you're hard-pressed to pay attention. Perhaps Pankaj Kapur realises this too, injecting a rather ill-fitted 'last-action-hero' sequence in the climax, and turning the affair into a bit of a farce.
Kapur scores with Mausam when his core love story is still fresh. Appropriately, then, the most enjoyable moments of the film come in the first half, when the action is still settled in Mallukot. While the romance between Harry and Aayat is charming here, the comic scenes between Harry and his dadajee are hilarious. The film bursts with effervescence here, Shahid Kapoor in his element as Harry, infusing the film with the energy of his performance, jumping to songs like sajh dhaj ke. However, as soon as things take a sombre turn, the film proceeds downhill. In the second half, Shahid and Sonam as their own older versions are a bit too grave and serious to hold one's interest. Still, in his initial moments as the dashing pilot, Shahid shows that he can rock an IAF uniform, while Sonam manages to look charming even while sporting a powdered wig.
The film comes undone when Kapur gives leeway to his indulgent tendencies. In scenes like the one where Aayat first spots Harry in Scotland, you wonder why she doesn't just go up and say hello to him, instead of taking up screen time, stalking him through the streets and concert halls. The second round of their courtship, still in Scotland, drags similarly.
Still, Mausam is not without its strengths. One in chief is named Shahid Kapoor. Under his father's eye, Shahid clearly flourishes, channelling just the right amount of charms as Harry in the first half. Though the performance flags a bit when he is reintroduced as the sober air force pilot, Shahid picks up the threads again, when, as the handicapped Harinder, he manages to convey the air of a man who's too proud to admit he's longing for his love.
Sonam Kapoor, on the other hand fails to grow with the needs of the film. While she does fine as the young girl finding her first love in the village, as the lady in Scotland, her performance is no more nuanced, the movement of story seeming to simply be a change of costumes for her.
Amongst other performances, Supriya Pathak Kapur is perfect as ever, while Anupam Kher's role as Machu could really have been done away with. Aditi Sharma is intriguing as Rajjo, the village belle longing for Harry, though Pankaj Kapur chooses to let her angle flounder.Manoj Pahwa does well for laughs in the initial moments of the film as Gulzari, while Amar Talwar is okay Aayat's father.
On the technical side of things, the film scores in a big way. Binod Pradhan's cinematography flourishes in the film's varied settings, picking out visuals as beautiful in Mallukot as in Scotland and Switzerland. The film's music is also a huge plus, with some exquisite tunes coming from Pritam and lyricist Irshad Kamil.
Ultimately, if Mausam comes undone, it is all upto Pankaj Kapur. Though the actor's keen eye shows in a few sequences, it is clear that Kapur needs to work on keeping his story engaging throughout. The lack of focus is most evident in the fact that while Kapur tries his best to tell what he hopes is a timeless love story, through the entirety of the film, he is, in fact, caught up in the historic chronology of events as they happened, Babri, Kargil and more. If Mausam manages to strike big at the box-office, perhaps we shall see a better film from Pankaj. If it doesn't, one supposes it would be safe to see that it just wasn't Kapur's season'
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