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A Tale of Love, Separation & Reunion

Pankaj Kapur's directorial debut does not disappoint at all, as he tells an old-fashioned story of love, separation and reunion with flourishes and flashes of great cinema.

Let us review this visual feast called, Mausam.
Our Rating : 4/5

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Shahid Kapur : Outstanding

Shahid plays, Harry the Punjabi wastrel turned air-force officer. He takes us through the film's and his character's romantic odyssey, inconsistencies and all. Forget Tom Cruise. In the Airforce uniform he reminds us of Rajesh Khanna in 'Aradhana'. And that's the highest compliment any contemporary star can be paid.

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Sonam Kapoor : Just There

Sonam plays, Aayaat the refugee girl from Kashmir. The director tries hard to merge Sonam in the resplendent ambience. Her performance has enchanting echoes of Kareena Kapoor in 'Refugee'. The camera gives her no room to complain. But in the intensely romantic moments, she looks lost rather than lovelorn.

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The Story : Traumatic

Pankaj Kapur takes the Muslim-Hindu love story between a Kashmiri refugee girl and a Punjabi boy through an arching sweep of history. Every historical trauma that has defined and defiled India and Indians in the last 30 years props up as a vital image to underline the love story.

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Writing & Cinematograpgy : Sublime

The film goes from one phase in the couple's life to another, not quite smoothly but not strenuously either.

The transitions in their estrangement are mapped out in some finely-written scenes where the couple's smothered affections for one another are manifested in moments of sublime beauty.

The ever-brilliant cinematographer Binod Pradhan captures the couple against breathtaking backdrops in rural Punjab and Scotland.

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Flaws In The Movie

All in all Mausam is a beautiful movie, but it has it's own flaws as well.

* The film's strong sense of purpose and its love-defining affiliation to socio-cultural incidents leave little space for the incidental characters (of whom there are many) to grow in the plot.
* Where the film seems to lag behind is in creating emotional pockets for the couple's mutual feelings to develop.
* The climax on a ferri's wheel appears a trifle manufactured.

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