Mausam (1975)

मौसम

For all the zany masala and bombast of Hindi film in the 1970s, there is a subtler side as well, a delicate strain of films that explored the raw places where human emotions intersect.  Setting the standard in this kind of sensitive cinema are films by the likes of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and the brilliant Gulzar, who was the auteur of Mausam ("season").

Dr. Gil (Sanjeev Kumar), a successful doctor and marketer of an eponymous pain remedy, arrives in Darjeeling for an extended vacation - with a mission.  His objective is to track down the love of his life and seek forgiveness for abandoning her nearly a quarter of a century before.  In flashback we are shown the nascence of that old romance, between the young medical student Gil and the the village pharmacist-healer's daughter, Chanda (Sharmila Tagore).  As the middle-aged Gil follows the trail of Chanda's life since he left her, he discovers that she has died after a prolonged descent into madness brought about, Gil is horrified to learn, by her miserable pining over the false promises of her faithless lover.  Forced into an abusive marriage, Chanda left behind a daughter, Kajli (also Sharmila), who Gil finds plying the world's oldest trade in a coarse, ratty brothel.  Gil - without revealing his connection to her mother - buys her time indefinitely, dresses her in good clothes, and attempts to mold her into the upstanding girl her mother had been when he knew her.

Stories about rich men attempting to transform prostitutes into proper ladies are usually unappealing to me, as they are often sodden with obnoxious moralistic subtext:  a sexually uninhibited woman needs a male savior to rescue her by teaching her to conform to societal norms.  But Mausam is a little different.  Gil seeks his own redemption, not Kajli's - he is trying not so much to repair Kajli for her own good, but rather to reconstruct her mother, so that he may ask her forgiveness for the wrong he did her so many years before.  This lends a sadness and desperation to his efforts at rehabilitating Kajli, a very different approach to the Pygmalion-esque elements of the tale.

Mausam also works because Sanjeev Kumar is one of the finest actors in Indian film.  His controlled touch ensures that the film remains sensitive even as Dr. Gil leans heavily toward the paternalistic.  Gil is wounded and confused; he comes to Darjeeling hoping to ride off into the sunset with his beloved Chanda - not to rescue from brothel life a daughter he never knew Chanda had.  Sanjeev Kumar's nuanced performance preserves Gil's pain and uncertainty as he navigates the unexpected twists in his own fantasy.  It also makes plain Gil's implicit sexual attraction to Kajli, who is after all the doppleganger of her mother as Gil last saw her.  There is an everyman quality to Sanjeev Kumar that makes his portrayal of human pain that much more effective and real; this is as evident in Mausam as it was in Silsila, in which he stole the show from stars with much more conventional charisma.

Sharmila Tagore's performance stands up as well; after seeing her astonishing performance as a young teenager in Apur sansar, her deep sadness in Amar Prem, and her jaunty work in another double role in An Evening in Paris, I am starting to believe in her completely as an actress.  Here, she ranges from coarse crossness to wonderment to confidence, doubt, tenderness, resentment.  There is a palpable difference between Chanda's flouncy innocence and Kajli's world-weary demeanor, exhausted and broken, until she is refreshed by her bond with Gil.  The result of all this fine work by both actors, together with Gulzar's script and direction, is a touching and lovely film; at its climax I wept as I rarely have at a movie.  It is a delicate story, about delicate characters, delicately told.

Finally, Mausam is rounded out by some truly wonderful songs, especially "Dil dhoondta hai," in which the middle-aged Gil reminisces, watching a younger version of himself frolicking in the woods with Chanda. There is also an adorable song in which Kajli tries to entertain Gil with a jaunty mujra.  Her dance is both sensuous and a little bit graceless; by Kajli's own admission she is not a very good dancer, but she is clearly in her element performing for Gil, and it makes for a charming scene.

Comments

[Meera]

Hi Carla

Good review as usual. Sharmila Tagore won the Best Actor National Award for this movie.

She is one of the talented actresses of the 60s and 70s. I would recommend you see her blockbluster hit with Rajesh Khanna "Aradhna" - this movie was very famous for its songs too.

Another good movie of hers with Dharmendra is Mere Hum Dum Mere Dost - an entertaining bollywood film.

Her truly good serious movies are Anupama and Satyakam - both Hrisikesh Mukherjee movies.

I was lucky to see these old movies on Indian Television when i was in Uni!

cheers

[Meera]

Carla

Some of the best movies of Sanjeev Kumar are - Anamika, Khilona, Koshish (he and Jaya Bahaduri are deaf and dumb in the movie), Anhonee, Pati, Patni aur Woh (comedy).

Happy viewing

[Daddy's Girl]

Interesting review - 'Mausam' sounds like something I'd definitely want to see. I agree with your asessment of Sharmila's acting - I usually find her very convincing.

[yves]

Hi Carla,

Thanks for this nice review. What's the connection between the story and its title?
Yves

[carla]

Meera: thanks for the recommendations for both Sharmila and Sanjeev. I have thought about watching *Arudhana* because of the famous "Roop tera mastana" song, but I have not really warmed to Rajesh Khanna and that fact keeps stopping me.

Daddy's Girl: I'm definitely a Sharmila believer.

Yves: Your guess is as good as mine. It may play on some usage or connotation of the word "mausam" that I am not familiar with.

[Beth]

What were the implications and undertones of Gil's attraction to Kajli? It sounds kinda creepy, but I'm assuming you would have mentioned that if you found it so. Ditto the idea of his "project" - does it seem at all that he's trying to turn her into something that she fundamentally isn't? Or is his goal more a better version of her true self? Does she welcome molding? I'm really wary of stories that involve men saving women (and being a little turned on by their savior role), so I'm really curious how this one plays out; I know you are very likely to be bothered by some of these kinds of issues too and probably wouldn't give such an encouraging review to a movie that had some of that slant of skeeze in it.

[Meera]

Beth - there is nothing sleazy in the movie. Watch it for yourself.

Yves and Carla - Mausam in hindi means "season". I guess the title is referring to the changing facets of life like the changing seasons (weather). Mausam is also used in the context of weather especially in hindi news bulletins.

In fact the song that you liked so much Carla has a reference to the changing seasons, ie, dhil doontha hai phir wahi phursat ke raat din".

[carla]

Thanks Meera. I had given the meaning "season" in the review; I suppose you are right that it refers to the changeable nature of life like the seasons (or, more unpredictably, like weather). I still find that rather oblique and metaphoric, but it wouldn't be the only Hindi film titled in an oblique and metaphoric way.

Beth, Meera is right that it is not sleazy, and you are right that it is hard to explain why it is not. I think it works because of Gil's sadness and desperation; he's not superior to her, he just wants her mother back. And while he must be attracted to her he never touches her, which also preserves the purity and internality (internal to Gil) of his feelings, if that makes any sense.

[Darshana of Bollywhat]

I'll make a pass at the topic of the title, Mausam, meaning "season." To me the essence of the movie and its greatness have to do with its evocation of the experience of: long-ago days, how they felt, and poignant regret about them.

The song at the very beginning reached me there - Dil Doondtha Hai. As the movie starts you hear this, and follow a car driving up through the forests of a hill station. The words are transtlated as something like - "the heart lies in search/ of those lost days and nights of leisure. . . " Therein to me is "season."

Then - the story is about Dr Gil/Sanjeev K's return to that place from his own life, and his aching regret about what is gone forever.

[Anonymous]

I just saw this film based on your review and enjoyed it. Thanks for the helpful posts -- keep the reivews coming! And I am a Sharmila fan from the good work she did with Satyajit Ray. If you haven't seen it, put "Aranyer Din Ratri" on your list. It's a great film and a great performance by Sharmila.

Sally

[carla]

Sally, thanks so much. I was amazed by Sharmila's performance in *Apur Sansar* when she was all of 14 years old and that definitely made me want to check out the other work she did with Satyajit Ray.

[Nautilus]

If you want to see the variety Sanjeev Kumar could offer would recommend that you see Angoor, it is based on Shakespeare's play 'The Comedy of Errors' and has Sanjeev Kumar in double role; movie has been written and directed by Gulzar

[carla]

Thanks Nautilus. I have wanted to see this movie for some time and have not been able to track down a copy for myself. I am sure I will see it some day.

[Aham]

yes, this one for sure is a masterpiece. A throbbing tale told very beautifully.

[dimps]

Mausam an excellent movie by the grat gulzar & sanjeev!

Awsome sharmila

I was not close ro sharmila till now but after seing this movie...
have no words to describe
simply superb movie

[Subba Raman]

Most fans assume (as does Carla in this review) that the elder Dr. Gil went to Darjeeling with the "mission" of tracking down Chanda. Based on the flow of the conversation he has at the roadside tea shop the first morning after his return visit, I believe the story teller is conveying that this mission is not something Dr. Gil had planned on before his visit but is gradually drawn into after. As he discovers in increments the life Chanda was condemned to, he starts to take increasing responsibility to do something about it. Further proof of this is that at the time he arrives at the guest house in Darjeeling, he jokes lightheartedly with some professional colleagues about his involvement with a girl during his earlier visit. Given the portrayal of his character in the rest of the movie, it is hard to imagine him joking that way about Chanda unless he was under the impression she would have moved on and settled in her life.