Gulzar has always tried to explore different and complex human relationships in his films. Mausam, too explores a complex relation between two people. Masterly crafted, this movie is a milestone in the careers of Sanjeev Kumar and Sharmila Tagore.
As the credit title rolls to the strains of ’Dil dhoondta hai phir wohi’, Amarnath Gill (Sanjeev Kumar), a man in his mid forties, arrives to the sleepy hill-station of Darjeeling. He has come here for relaxation. However, this is not the first time he has come here. He slowly starts remembering the days when he had come here to prepare for his medical examinations. It was many years ago. He had met Chanda (Sharmila Tagore), daughter of the local vaid (Om Shivpuri). Amarnath was charmed by the innocence and simplicity of Chanda. She too flirts with him and soon they are both in love. Promising to return soon, Amarnath leaves for the city never to return... till this day.
Now it all seemed like a thing from the last birth. He starts his hunt for Chanda, whom he had never forgotten and hence did not get married. After investigating about her whereabouts, and hearing different versions from many people, he finally learns that Chanda had got married to a handicap. After going through many experiences, she had gone insane and finally died some months ago. She had a daughter named Kajli but she too was missing since her mother’s death.
Amarnath is dejected and lost . But he is shocked when he comes across Kajli (Sharmila Tagore), a hardcore prostitute. Mouthing foul words and attired in a typical nautch girl’s clothes, Kajli was bad-mouthing a customer, smoking a bidi. Amarnath immediately recognizes that she is Chanda’s daughter. He decides to reform Kajli, as he feels that somewhere he was responsible for kajli’s life going astray. But for Kajli he is just another customer.
When he brings her home, she starts feeling that this is a different world from the world she had known. Soon, Amarnath, infuses manners and sense of responsibility in her. But there is an undercurrent of tension... what would happen when Kajli would learn that he was the man responsible for her mother going insane? Eventually what shape their relationship takes, is left open to viewer’s interpretation.
This bold subject required mature handling and superb actors to convey the right emotions and feelings the characters are going through. Gulzar has handled this subject with great maturity. In fact even today, many years after it’s release, you would find hardly any director who would try to take up this bold subject. It may not be the ultimate masterpiece but it is almost up there.
Gulzar has also made superb use of the flashback, which is his speciality (remember Aandhi, Ijaazat etc.). In fact he is the master of flashbacks. He has a style of connecting a particular incident to a similar incident from the past through flashback. In Mausam, this art is superbly done. Through thoughts and references, he cuts into a flashback and the viewer is kept totally immersed in that scene. Highlights: The main highlight of this movie was it’s subject.
It was (is) new, bold, unexplored and had plenty of things to say. The other highlight was as mentioned, the flashback scenes cleverly fitted into the narration. Also look out for the song ’Dil dhoondta hai’ where the past and the present is shown merging in a single frame. How innovative !
Coming to performances, Sanjeev Kumar and Sharmila Tagore literally vie for top honours. While Sharmila had an added advantage of playing double role with two separate characters, Sanjeev too impressed with the role spanning from youth to middle aged. In the end it is still undecided who is better of the two in this movie. Sharmila Tagore won national award for her role. She was excellent as the bidi-smoking Kajli, who never thought twice before bad-mouthing anyone and is equally at ease as Chanda, the sweet, and innocent girl from village. Sanjeev Kumar gets under the skin of the character and brings alive his character. It is surely one of his most memorable role. He expertly brings about the dilemma of the man who is caught between his past and the present. The supporting cast of Omshiv Puri, Dina Pathak, Agha did their job well.
The other highlight were the dialogues of the film. Even the small nok-jhok between Amarnath and Chanda are interesting. For instance Chanda keeps asking the meaning of difficult english words which Amarnath uses during his normal conversation. Then there is the scene when Sanjeev is scratching his ears and Chanda stops him saying ’kaan mat khujao, zeharband ho jayenga’. This same dialogue is repeated by Kajli again while she is travelling with Amarnath. These light scenes also remain with you long after the film is over. The scene when Amarnath arrives to the meet Kajli at her brothel and she perceives him as a customer is also well-enacted by both actors and well directed.
The scene where Kajli tries to explain Amarnath about the difference in their world giving the example of a cobbler is also outstanding.
The songs of the film were also melodious. The evergreen ’’Dil dhoondta hai’ evokes the memories of the days gone by.... where have those days gone? The song has two separate versions- a solo by Bhupendra and duet with Lata Mangeshkar. Both are superb. Ruke ruke se kadam is a poetic masterpiece written by Gulzar himself and set to tune by Madan Mohan. The playful number ’Chhadi re chhadi’ is picturised on Sanjeev and Sharmila with the walking stick being the bone of contention between them.
Mausam is truly one of the three best films made by Gulzar. It is touching and it lingers in your heart. Films like Mausam, however, comes only once in many seasons.