Unfortunately Kargil war separates them again where Harry is summoned in the line of duty. Unable to trace each other post the war, the two pine for each other for years. Until they cross paths during subsequent misfortunate incidents of 9/11 attacks and Godhra riots.
Every scene is beautifully shot, the romance is meant to grow on you with its artful glances and coy exchanges. But instead of a slow burn, it's just plain exhaustion. In the age of instant email and easily transported cellphones, the lovers leave no forwarding addresses or contact numbers. They rely instead on the goodness of neighbours and the willingness of relatives.
However the pain of separation when the couple drifts apart for the first time isn't as acutely felt since, though they reunite after a gap of seven years, cinematically its just the next scene without an interim or even an interval. The director attempts to upgrade the teenage romance with a more mature outlook in a Victorian backdrop. Unfortunately Sonam Kapoor appears too juvenile for the role and lacks the maturity that the character demands. The entire basis of this ill-fated love story heavily depends on the chemistry between Sonam and Shahid but it certainly isn't of the kind that one could rave about. And with their mediocre rapport, you don't feel as much for the love birds as one should ideally have.
Pankaj Kapoor superimposes every twist in his love story on the backdrop of real social upheaval that resulted out of human-induced havocs. While he keeps the correlation subtle with no direct link between the two, after a point of time, the connection appears too coincidental. In fact the viewer becomes so accustomed with the set pattern that they start to presume what social unrest would follow next in the scheme of things. Moreover the film opts for a climax, which is not just tame, but also goes on a different tangent from the love story, with Shahid Kapoor saving a random child and, in process, regaining life in his paralyzed arm in the most formulaic fashion. Its relevance to the romance drama and requirement in the overall affair is highly debatable.
But no lovely little nuance could forgive Mausam its preposterous bad-action-movie climax, completely bringing the guillotine down on the already too-long film. As manipulative masala tearjerkers go, it's a film that tries relatively earnestly and certainly one that occasionally looks striking, but disappoints overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment