Mausam
2011 · Directed by Pankaj Kapur
Original language: Hindi
- romance
- drama
The story
A war, religious conflicts, and misunderstandings create obstacles for a couple of different faiths.
What it’s like
Wide, sun-warmed landscapes give way to crowded, dusty streets and then to cold, grey distances, with long romantic sequences framed to make the lovers look small against the land. The palette shifts from amber and marigold to bruised blue and smoke, and the camera lingers on faces in quiet close-ups between big, operatic set pieces. The score swells with lush strings and vocal numbers that play over the scenery, while the quieter scenes rely on wind, distant voices and ambient silence. The pacing is unhurried and sentimental, with long stretches of longing and separation broken by bursts of uncertainty and grief. The emotional register is earnest and melodramatic, with the mood moving between tender, aching and hopeful. Violence arrives in wartime flashes and tense confrontations rather than sustained brutality, and it weighs heavily on the story without much graphic detail. Sexual content is minimal and kept off-screen. This suits a rainy weekend or a late evening when you want a sweeping, tearful love story with a backdrop of political upheaval, and it fits viewers who enjoy big-screen Bollywood romance with serious themes.
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