Mausam at least has the virtue of changing. Mausam, the movie, is unremittingly monotonous and predictable. The romance does not strikes a chord. The sub plot of terrorism does not make one tearful. It is all too shallow, contrived, and unreal to be ever believed.
Shahid Kapoor is as unconvincing as the small town-big dreams Harry as the suave and confident Squadron Leader Harinder Singh. In fact, the scenes that involve the Indian Air Force are some of the most farcical in the movie.I am surprised the IAF hasn't sued the producer for presenting the Air Force in such a silly light.
The flight of Kashmiri Pndits from Kashmir in the 1990s, which could have been so poignantly potrayed, simply translates into a stereotyped Hindu-Muslim bhai bhai travesty. The tragedy and futility of the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid riots is reduced to inane dialogues like 'Ye hamare saath kyon hota hai?"
Interspersed is the Shahid-Sonam romance which so lacks spontaneity/chemistry/poetry that one wishes they would just sing a song and get it over with.Perhaps the producer realised at some point that the movie would die a very quick death in Mullanpur, or was it Mallupur ----and so the locale shifts to Scotland, with bits of Switzerland thrown in. Alas! Shahid and Sonam look as NOT-made-for-each-other as they did in saada Punjab, the Mozart concert and waltz and pretty gowns and IAF uniform notwithstanding.
What next ? Kargil happens, and the lovers get separated, and Shahid ends up with a paralysed arm in a flight manouvre I couldn't make any sense of. Neither can the IAF, I am sure. So lots of trips to and fro between Scotland and Switzerland and Punjab and Ahmedabad later, when everyone has been rendered dizzy by the peripatetic couple, yet another riot takes place, the hero saves the heroine(what's new), he saves a baby girl(not new either), regains the use of his paralysed arm while engaged in these acts of chivalry (standard Bollywood fare) ---- and they live happily ever after, having adopted the child . OK, that's a new twist!!
In this whole silly train of events, Supriya Pathak and Anupam Kher are totally wasted, as also Manoj Pahwa. The music is passe and Shahid's dances right out of JAB WE MET. What can one say about Sonam? She never fits into the skin of the role. Its as if she's nervously asking all the time -----Am I doing fine?Shahid did such a fantastic job in KAMINEY, here one sees at best snatches of the Shahid of JAB WE MET.
A movie to be avoided at all costs ----unless one is being offered free tickets for the PVR Gold Class !!
