Shahid Kapoor is a young and happy-go-lucky Hindu boy living in a small town of Punjab. He meets a Kashmiri Muslim, Sonam Kapoor, and the two fall in love with one another. The two are separated soon and they meet after seven years in Scotland. But once again, they get separated. Do they ever meet after that? Find out in the review of Mausam.
Business Rating: 2/5 stars
Star cast: Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Manoj Pahwa, Anupam Kher.
What’s Good: The music; the performances of the lead actors.
What’s Bad: The slow pace of the drama; the inclusion of too many events in the film; lack of emotional appeal; too many coincidences in the lives of Shahid and Sonam.
Verdict: Mausam lacks the heart-warming quality of a love story. However, it will do above-average business at the box-office.
Loo break: A couple in the second half.
Watch or Not?: Watch it for the songs and the performances of Shahid and Sonam.
Eros International, Vistaar Religare Film Fund and Cinergy’s Mausam is a love story of a Hindu boy, Harinder Singh alias Harry (Shahid Kapoor), and a Kashmiri Muslim girl, Aayat (Sonam Kapoor). Harry is a fun-loving boy who lives in Mallukot in Punjab. He is waiting for a call from the Indian Air Force where his future as a pilot lies. He meets Aayat for the first time at Mallukot when both are adolescents. Aayat, a Kashmiri Muslim, has come to live with her paternal aunt (Supriya Pathak) at Mallukot because of terrorist problems in Kashmir. Harry and Aayat fall in love with one another. Even as their romance is blossoming, Aayat leaves Mallukot all of a sudden one day. Harry has no information whatsoever about her as her aunt has also gone away with Aayat.
Seven years pass by. Harry is now an IAF pilot. His job takes him to Scotland where he meets Aayat again. Both are shocked to see each other. Aayat, her father (Kamal Nain Chopra) and now-widowed aunt have moved to Scotland. The romance between Harry and Aayat is rekindled. Even as they vow to live together after marriage, the Kargil war breaks out in India and Harry has to leave Scotland at the shortest possible notice. He is unable to even inform Aayat who was actually expecting him home for dinner that evening when he would also ask her father for her hand in marriage. A distraught Aayat comes looking for Harry in Mallukot but as he is still not back home, leaves a letter for him with Rajjo (Aditi Sharma), a girl who loved Harry but who has since gotten married to another boy. The letter never reaches Harry who then asks his sister in Switzerland to go to Scotland and contact Aayat. When all attempts to contact each other fail, Harry himself comes to Scotland but Aayat and family have, some weeks earlier, left Scotland.
Then, one day, out of the blue, Harry spots Aayat in Switzerland but takes her cousin to be her husband, and mistakes his child to be their child. Fate throws them together once again in Ahmedabad in India when communal riots break out there. Aayat is being chased by miscreants during the riots. Is Harry, whose left hand has since been paralysed, able to save Aayat or not? Do Aayat and Harry unite in matrimony?
Mausam Review – Script Analysis
The story, penned by Pankaj Kapur, is spread over a decade and more. Since the lovers keep meeting and getting separated, it follows the same path every time, making the drama repetitive and even boring. Pankaj Kapur’s screenplay burdens the repetitive story with so much extraneous drama (war, riots, circumstances, coincidences and more coincidences, accident etc.) that the romantic story becomes rather unwieldy. Even the several tracks would’ve been acceptable had the pace been fast. But the film moves at such a leisurely pace that it not only tests the audience’s patience but also raises questions in their minds about a number of issues. Since these questions have not been addressed, the viewer feels quite helpless. Also, with so much going wrong for both, Harry and Aayat, the audience, somewhere along the way, gives up and begins to actually question the many coincidences. Probably, the biggest drawback of the drama is that the audience feels no pain or sympathy for Harry and Aayat when they are unable to meet each other in spite of their concerted efforts. In any film on relationships, if the viewer is not going to feel bad when two lovers are separated, it is not a very happy situation. It would not be wrong to say that the writer has wasted too much time on the happenings around the two lovers and, in the process, missed out on the emotional part of the love affair. The cramming of too many events in the film make the drama tedious, long-winding and boring, especially after interval. Comedy is not upto the mark. Pankaj Kapur’s dialogues are good.
Mausam Review – Star Performances
Shahid Kapoor acts with effortless ease, beautifully underplaying his character of an IAF pilot in search of his love. He looks very handsome in uniform and performs brilliantly. His dances are graceful as ever. Sonam Kapoor also looks pretty and delivers a dignified performance. Her acting is suitably restrained. Supriya Pathak does an ordinary job and is not half as wonderful as she usually is. Manoj Pahwa acts well in a role that doesn’t have much significance. Aditi Sharma does a marvellous job as Rajjo. She is a fantastic actress. Kanika Mangkotya, as Harry’s sister, lends very good support. Anupam Kher is wasted. Kamal Nain Chopra acts ably as Aayat’s father.
Mausam Review – Direction & Music
Pankaj Kapur’s direction is good but he takes too long to come to the point, because of which his narration looks laboured. A lot of things in the film look superficial. He has beautifully projected the atmosphere of life in the Punjab town. Pritam’s music is excellent. Tashan and Rabba are the best songs and their picturisations (Ahmed Khan) are eye-filling. Yeh kaisa ishq hai is nice. ‘Mallo Malli’ is energetic. Lyrics (by Irshad Kamil) are nice. Cinematography (by Binod Pradhan) is very good. Stunts (Sham Kaushal) are okay. Sreekar Prasad’s editing is alright.
Mausam Review – Komal Nahta’s Verdict
On the whole, Mausam does not have the heart-warming quality of a love story to gladden the hearts of the audience. It will not have a long run at the box-office although fetching commission should not be a difficult proposition in view of its weekend business.
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