Mausam Hindi Movie
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 Bastard 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 clichéd 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 clichéd 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.
