Mausam

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. I have mentioned it before that I have a positive bias towards every Shahid Kapoor film because of the honest effort he makes to make his films work. And what is it that Mausam did not offer? Shahid's new look, promising storyline, fresh pairing of Shahid-Sonam and Pankaj Kapur's directorial debut. Based on these factors, the hype and anticipation for Mausam were genuine. To start with, the basic premise of the movie is phenomenal. A poignant so-near-yet-so-far kind of love story in the setting of historical events that defined lives of Muslims and Sikhs living in India and their effects of the protagonists. A gutsy and original concept. However, films are not made on concepts, they need stories and screenplays and unless they are Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar no-brainers, they need connections between events and sequences. That's where the shortcomings of Mausam start becoming obvious. It's a kind of film ab...

If we are talking of a film almost 38 years after its release, it has to have something really remarkable to attract repeat visitors. Indeed, Gulzar’s “Mausam” was a delectable feast — a fine orchestra of a film with barely a false note. It had a cast that had just the right mix of oomph and sobriety — Sharmila Tagore and Sanjeev Kumar — and a music score by Madan Mohan — that had enough shades to colour an autumn evening. It had drama so gentle that anything more than a ripple could have been termed a splash. And even a choreographed dance number — probably a first for a Gulzar film as the filmmaker never felt the need for a specialised choreographer. Yet, in the year that saw “Sholay”, “Deewar” and “Jai Santoshi Maa”, “Mausam” could well have been a film of ‘almost there’ moments. When the film was being shot, Gulzar was making “Aandhi” too. Their scripts too were written at almost the same time — Kamleshwar, Bhooshan Banmali and Gulzar being involved at various stages. As luck would have it, “Aandhi” was the first to be completed and released. Then came a controversy surrounding the film’s contents and portions of “Aandhi” had to be filmed again. By then “Mausam” was in theatres! Sanjeev Kumar, the film’s hero, was also doing “Aandhi” at the same time — he played a mature man in both films, successfully imparting different shades to each character. He was nominated for Filmfare award for the best actor for “Mausam” as well as “Arjun Pandit”. However, he had to be satisf...

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. I have mentioned it before that I have a positive bias towards every Shahid Kapoor film because of the honest effort he makes to make his films work. And what is it that Mausam did not offer? Shahid's new look, promising storyline, fresh pairing of Shahid-Sonam and Pankaj Kapur's directorial debut. Based on these factors, the hype and anticipation for Mausam were genuine. To start with, the basic premise of the movie is phenomenal. A poignant so-near-yet-so-far kind of love story in the setting of historical events that defined lives of Muslims and Sikhs living in India and their effects of the protagonists. A gutsy and original concept. However, films are not made on concepts, they need stories and screenplays and unless they are Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar no-brainers, they need connections between events and sequences. That's where the shortcomings of Mausam start becoming obvious. It's a kind of film ab...

If we are talking of a film almost 38 years after its release, it has to have something really remarkable to attract repeat visitors. Indeed, Gulzar’s “Mausam” was a delectable feast — a fine orchestra of a film with barely a false note. It had a cast that had just the right mix of oomph and sobriety — Sharmila Tagore and Sanjeev Kumar — and a music score by Madan Mohan — that had enough shades to colour an autumn evening. It had drama so gentle that anything more than a ripple could have been termed a splash. And even a choreographed dance number — probably a first for a Gulzar film as the filmmaker never felt the need for a specialised choreographer. Yet, in the year that saw “Sholay”, “Deewar” and “Jai Santoshi Maa”, “Mausam” could well have been a film of ‘almost there’ moments. When the film was being shot, Gulzar was making “Aandhi” too. Their scripts too were written at almost the same time — Kamleshwar, Bhooshan Banmali and Gulzar being involved at various stages. As luck would have it, “Aandhi” was the first to be completed and released. Then came a controversy surrounding the film’s contents and portions of “Aandhi” had to be filmed again. By then “Mausam” was in theatres! Sanjeev Kumar, the film’s hero, was also doing “Aandhi” at the same time — he played a mature man in both films, successfully imparting different shades to each character. He was nominated for Filmfare award for the best actor for “Mausam” as well as “Arjun Pandit”. However, he had to be satisf...

If we are talking of a film almost 38 years after its release, it has to have something really remarkable to attract repeat visitors. Indeed, Gulzar’s “Mausam” was a delectable feast — a fine orchestra of a film with barely a false note. It had a cast that had just the right mix of oomph and sobriety — Sharmila Tagore and Sanjeev Kumar — and a music score by Madan Mohan — that had enough shades to colour an autumn evening. It had drama so gentle that anything more than a ripple could have been termed a splash. And even a choreographed dance number — probably a first for a Gulzar film as the filmmaker never felt the need for a specialised choreographer. Yet, in the year that saw “Sholay”, “Deewar” and “Jai Santoshi Maa”, “Mausam” could well have been a film of ‘almost there’ moments. When the film was being shot, Gulzar was making “Aandhi” too. Their scripts too were written at almost the same time — Kamleshwar, Bhooshan Banmali and Gulzar being involved at various stages. As luck would have it, “Aandhi” was the first to be completed and released. Then came a controversy surrounding the film’s contents and portions of “Aandhi” had to be filmed again. By then “Mausam” was in theatres! Sanjeev Kumar, the film’s hero, was also doing “Aandhi” at the same time — he played a mature man in both films, successfully imparting different shades to each character. He was nominated for Filmfare award for the best actor for “Mausam” as well as “Arjun Pandit”. However, he had to be satisf...

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. I have mentioned it before that I have a positive bias towards every Shahid Kapoor film because of the honest effort he makes to make his films work. And what is it that Mausam did not offer? Shahid's new look, promising storyline, fresh pairing of Shahid-Sonam and Pankaj Kapur's directorial debut. Based on these factors, the hype and anticipation for Mausam were genuine. To start with, the basic premise of the movie is phenomenal. A poignant so-near-yet-so-far kind of love story in the setting of historical events that defined lives of Muslims and Sikhs living in India and their effects of the protagonists. A gutsy and original concept. However, films are not made on concepts, they need stories and screenplays and unless they are Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar no-brainers, they need connections between events and sequences. That's where the shortcomings of Mausam start becoming obvious. It's a kind of film ab...