Movie Review: Mausam: No smoke, no fire

There is something mournful in a movie that is made sincerely and then falls flat due to its lofty ambitions. Sometime in 1992, Harry (Shahid Kapoor) or Harinder is awaiting a life-changing letter in his remote Punjab village. Apart from idling with his village friends, borrowing cars to race with trains, and having an empty purse, Harry falls for the 'new Kashmiri girl in the village' Aayat (Sonam Kapoor) at first sight. Soon, his bicycle chain starts slipping off near the girl's abode. Hand-written notes are exchanged quietly, dipped in water as evidence disposal, and finally, caught in a downpour, the girl promises to tell him,"Tomorrow." Only, the girl has left the village in haste with her family, as Harry hauntingly looks at a disappearing train. These initial parts of the movie are all charm and simplicity.

Cut to, suddenly, 1999, Scotland. Aayat at the Royal Academy of Dance. Harry is a moustached pilot visiting on a pilot exchange program. Huh? The lovers meet and just can't act like lovers. In one jarring scene, in which, we are subjected to a telepathic conversation, to another where a cigarrate lighter is excuse for a forced retro take on the classic Hum Dono song Abhi na jao... 

In rising exasperation of the story's disregard for time lines and redundancies, Harry misses a marriage-possible meeting because he is summoned for the Kargil war. He doesn't inform Aayat for dramatic effect rather than logic. Thus is the period until INTERMISSION survived.

Part two. Harry calls up Aayat, but the forced turn of circumstances, wouldn't let the lovers communicate. Aayat is a travel freak now, moving from Scotland to Punjab to Ahmedabad to Scotland and back again to Ahmedabad with a sore face. The air force objected bombing scene is a sitting duck, like the hand video games of the nineties. By the time Harry's left arm is paralysed, I have to leave the theatre. I never thought I would walk out of a cinema theatre midway, ever. It is easier if you are at Westend. Of course, you don't get a movie as flawed each time. Only a bad movie made with confidence and a bloated budget, nowadays; a gem, sometimes.

So...
Mausam is slayed by a debutant director's ambition, that the story had to cover so many geographical settings and event references. That every historical event from 1992 to present had to adversely affect the lovers' lives is just too sad to be true. That James Cameron kept it spectacularly simple in Titanic (1997) - A ship, two lovers and an iceberg. Also the absence, of any hint of fire and passion between Shahid and Sonam only adds to the misery.

If all the venom is well-deserved, Pankaj Kapur (An amazing actor, no doubt, Director? Ahhh?) does have the promise of telling a good, simple tale. He shows his stuff, especially in the village scenes. We say, try again. Something simpler please.

Music stays
Pritam's music and Irshad Kamil's lyrics are a saving grace, an odd contrast to the cracked proceedings. Some arresting moments when the Hans Raj Hans rendered Ik tu hi tu hi tu hits the screen.      

Movie Review: Badmaash Company:Great idea, decent execution

The best thing about Badmaash Company is that it keeps the story running without going overblown for once. The con jobs that are displayed here are the most convincing and ingenious you will ever see in a Hindi commercial movie. There are no attempts at anything spectacular, everything is kept just right - within the framework of the plot, even the song sequences are pleasantly devoid of any extensive choreography. The stretched and contrived climax almost kills it though.

The cast is convincing and right there - Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Vir Das and Meiyang Chang playing the lead parts. Pawan Malhotra sparks brilliance in his bit part, while Anupam Kher and Kiran Juneja are spot on. The film belongs eventually to the first-time director Parmeet Sethi for keeping within his boundaries, not getting carried away - giving us a satisfying if not a classic film. Good, tight entertainment within its commercial parameters, not a bad watch.

Movie Review: Wake Up Sid: Ranbir dazzles

Wake Up Sid, directed by Ayan Mukherjee is a breezy 'coming of age' tale of a rich, carefree brat Sid -Siddharth Mehra. Sid (Ranbir Kapoor) as he is called by friends, is just out of college and believes in living in the moment. "Who knows where we will be tomorrow?" he declares to his friends in a short monologue. This also means he has no sense of responsibility, or any clue as to a profession or living life on his own terms. Chancing upon a older, more career-focused Aisha (Konkana Sen Sharma), new to Mumbai, he helps her find a rented abode. Things go breezy and carefree on celluloid, until the final year results arrive, and Sid discovers that he has flunked. Angry and arrogant, he leaves home after an altercation with his bath shower firm-owning father (Anupam Kher).  Helpless, he moves in with Aisha. Similar growing up shades were seen in Farhan Akhtar's sparkling directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai and in his second movie Lakshya.

Ayan keeps it simple, and it is the chemistry between the main characters played by Ranbhir and Konkana, the clash of their mismatched personalities that keeps the film going. Apart from characters like Sid's college friends and his parents (Anupam Kher excellent as the strict father, Supriya Pathak charming as the English-learning mother) - the Shankar-Ehsan-Loy soundtrack is the movie's strength too.

Movie watch: A Wednesday: Stretched journey to grand finale

A Wednesday does grip you in the last twenty minutes, its point of view is relevant, powerful and thought provoking, but the journey to the twist in the tale is a irritating mix of cliches, jarring background music, some unintentionally laughable dialogue (in the first half), and a crawling pace with which the characters are introduced.

The movie is watchable for Naseeruddin Shah's excellent portrayal of the main protagonist. Anupam Kher is fine, considering the emotional restraint the role required.

The solution offered in the finale is debatable, we would ask ourselves - why would we do that? Is that the solution? It is not that I left the cinema hall dissatisfied, but with thoughts of how much better the movie could have been.