Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Movie Review: Mausam

Confession time: I didn’t know that I dragged my day to the worst corner of hell. I unknowingly punished myself which still hurts. I saw the movie Mausam. Why in the damn world did I assume this a sensible romantic love story and went ahead to spoil the best-formed image of the finest actor Pankaj Kapur? Okay, so here I undergo my self-abasement by spreading the hate-review or a bit modestly, dislike-review. 

This is a story of two old-school love birds – a Kashmiri girl and a Punjabi boy. First time they come across each other in the small town of Punjab. They never clearly admit that they sense naughty adrenaline flowing when they even see each other. Till more than half of the movie they sneakingly see each other, especially Harry (Shahid) who otherwise is cocksure but initially shown chicken in front of Aayat (Sonam).Then they take their own time in graduating the shy and yet-to-be-admitted courtship. After a short period of playing hide-and-seek, they have to separate. First they don’t deliberately meet, then circumstances don’t let them, then misunderstandings take over and finally when they do, you’re tired and the movie is over. Few good things include the old romantic way of exchanging notes in those few moments of their mostly accidental meet, charming ways of nicely showing affection and the initial two songs which I forgot by the time the movie was finally finished.

The director has put his heart and soul in making this couple look as much pitiable and luckless as possible. But, the point is: Devil lies in the detail. The attempt to showcase the excessive misery calls for the emergence of totally impractical story-plot. This so-called script covers the protagonists go through all the possible misfortunes happened in India since 1982 to 2002. The director shows the tragic events in the utterly boring or should I say, death-seeking installments. In the span of two decades, this love survives, matures silently with the never-flickering hope of being together. They are shown the best examples of the demand raised for the cellphone and its existence for the human life. God spare me if I say, the director did not seem in a mood to give them any even if the period taken were between 2001 to 2011. It is a comprehensive history book picturized through the eyes of two lovers frustrated with their lives and which moves forward with a snail speed – may be because Pankaj Kapur creatively thought of giving ample time to the audience to be equally empathetic as the characters were!
It is advised to invest in this turbulent stock market which may give you some positive return rather than in this case, where you’re sure to lose money as well as mood.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Won prizes for 'Aarakshan'

My sincere thanks to Television Eighteen India Ltd. for this appreciation for my utterly casual review of 'Aarakshan'.