Mausam

1992 India: Hindu Harry (Shahid Kapur) – ‘the most handsome boy in Punjab’ – falls for Kashmiri-Muslim lass Aayat (Sonam Kapoor). Over the next decade, our star-crossed lovers must bear the fallout of almost every major Indian and even global atrocity. This includes: the Mumbai riots and bomb blasts of 1992-1993, the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan, 9/11 and the 2002 Gujarat riots. First-time director Pankaj Kapur makes little effort to put these events into any proper socio-political context. Instead, they are used as convenient plot-devices to keep the lovers apart. Most outrageous is the use of the ‘Line of Control’ war as an excuse for bashing Pakistan, referred to here as ‘the enemy’. Laughable also are the ‘Top Gun’-style sequences with lead-man Kapur sporting a Cruise-cut and Ray-Bans.