One of the most beautiful films I've ever seen in Hindi. Sharmila Tagore's finest performance as a trafficked sex worker with unselfish brothel madam Dina Pathak and dead mothers ex-fiance, upper crust doctor Sanjeev Kumar who comes to Darjeeling looking for his former summer love after decades & finds that she died leaving behind a single daughter, who has been tragically forced into the flesh trade. Sanjeev Kumar tries to quietly redeem Sharmila Tagore from her unsavoury life,without revealing who he is, while she mistakes him for an unusual client and begins to respect him and eventually develops warmer feelings for him- which she tries to cure herself of by going back to the brothel, believing her arrangement with Sanjeev Kumar to be temporary. This is a lovely, lovely film. 9.5 / 10. One of the top 3 films from the Hindi film industry of all time.

Gulzar's Mausam tells the story of Dr. Amarnath Gill, who returns to Darjeeling after many years and after a while decides to look for his past love there. Just like Aandhi, Mausam is about a missed opportunity, only that here the separation is inevitable as in Aandhi the pair separated for good and only later realised what they had missed out on, and here, it was unintentional. Mausam is excellent in writing, direction, cinematography and acting. It's authentic to the core, it's beautifully shot, it's emotional and melancholic, and it just presents a moving episode of mainly three characters, while it is mainly seen through the eyes of Amarnath. Wavering between the present and the past through flashbacks, memories and confessions, the story is narrated exceedingly well. Gulzar gives the script a touch of tension and suspense, and several proceedings are completely unexpected and surprising.Gulzar shows his characters going through many trials and tribulations, and yet he never tries to victimise them or dramatise their stories when he presents the motives behind their current state. The movie in large portions works as a character drama, and is a very poetic, intense and atmospheric piece. Moreover, while the casting of one actor in two different roles has often not been justified in Hindi films, in Mausam it is very symbolic actually, showing what a cruel and ironic game destiny has played with Amarnath by taking away his love and making him meet her lookalike daughter who is a completely different person, namely a prostitute. I was very impressed by this part of the film, particularly by the portrayal of the brothel which looks most lifelike and real. You will see none of the mess or the caricature girls one is used to seeing in Hindi movies dealing with prostitution.There can be no doubt about Sanjeev Kumar's extraordinary acting talent and following Aandhi, in which he played a similar part, here too he plays his character's regret and pain with depth and ease. Sharmila Tagore got her best roles in Satyajit Ray films, and Mausam may be one of the best parts she received in Hindi cinema. She is astonishing in both roles although it's the role of Kajri, the daughter which lets her do a full emotional cycle. Not for a single moment in the film did she overdo her part, not the cute young girl, not the foul-mouthed prostitute, not the woman who lost her mental sanity. The transformation of Kajli looks very natural and due credit goes to her. She exudes a warmth and her emotional scenes towards the end, particularly the final scene of her realisation, are amazingly forceful. Among the supporting actors, Dina Pathak and Om Sivpuri play their parts excellently.The film was released after the death of its music director Madan Mohan. I liked his compositions very much and "Dil Dhoonta Hai" is my favourite. The film's ending is very touching, and it provides a great moment of relief and optimism. Mausam is another example of Gulzar's craftsmanship and of his unique storytelling. Just go and watch it.

One look at the movie poster and my mind was made up! Two of my favourite actors, Sanjeev Kumar and the very sexy Sharmila Tagore, sure promise a few hours of good cinema.Mausam (season) though decades old, stills remains an attractive movie owing to Gulzar's candid story telling. While the plot itself is not what I would rave about, its the way Gulzar and his actors have handled the story, that glues you to the expected end. Amarnath Gill (Sanjeev Kumar) guilty of a failed relationship with a small town vaid's (local village doctor) daughter Chanda (Sharmila Tagore) and incidentally, twenty odd years later stumbles upon the remnants of Chanda's life, in an off-season vacation in Darjeeling. Filled with remorse and regret, Amarnath embarks on a journey to seek what remains of his lost love, Chanda's daughter Kajli (also Sharmila).Of the several paths that this story could walk down, the choice of simplicity and bare truth exposed in the character s feelings makes the movie so convincing! Without actually dwelling on the notes of sympathy (for Kajli's life as a prostitute), or revenge / hatred (for Kajli towards Amarnath, the lover who failed her mother) or self-loathing (for Amarnath who realizes the cost of his erroneous choices in life), the movie paces on, leaving it for its viewers to experience this basket of emotions.Some rather nice tracks, befitting its generation, accompanies this movie. Take those hours off and grab yourself a copy of this film.

Dil Dhoondta Hai. The heart yearns. One day when we'll look back upon these days of leisure and carelessness with a great sense of nostalgia, we would find these days hazy, hidden, buried and long gone and what'd be left for us but the remains of these days. I'm getting ahead of myself but how else can I describe Mausam for what is it but an eclectic mosaic of sweet, sad, vengeful, insightful, melancholic memories, the colors of which are brought forth masterfully on the canvas, by the master painter and poet, Gulzar, who with the sweep of his magical brush, paints a kaleidoscopic landscape of lost love Now, there are many kinds of memories. Some memories are hauntingly pertinent and indelible. Funny how they keep lying- dormant, unused, in a hidden cavity inside our cache like conscience, waiting to flash psychedelic impulses of Deja- Vu into our brain, triggered by an obscure thought; the whole process reminiscent of the obsolete Oracle 8i software, marvelously retrieving data from its enigmatic records. And just reliving them makes one feel alive again. One wants to be deluged by those memories, to be drowned in them and wallow in the sweet anguish they bring along Then, some memories are unpleasant and one wishes to obliterate them but is such a thing possible? They invariably come back periodically like wind bouncing off the abandoned water facing lighthouses, to haunt us again and again and remind us of our fallibility. Then, disorientation beckons and insomnia reigns. Many nights in a row. Isn't there a thing called consecutive dreaming? It is these memories that the film in question deals with.We meet Dr. Amarnath Gill. Though ostensibly, Dr. Gill is on a vacation to Darjeeling to take a break from his hectic schedule, his visit has a more subliminal motive too, one that is not known to his frenzied city life but is only known to his other self, which has long since become lost like an unknown face in the mirror that he doesn't recognize anymore. Dr. Gill has a past. Something he had done years ago has left his conscience pecked with a deeply embedded guilt. He tries to pick up the broken pieces and tie up the loose ends. His immaculate questions about a woman he had known many years ago, sheds ample light on the cause of his restlessness.Then, we embark upon a journey with him along the woolen clouds and the and through a series of flashbacks, we meet our second main character- the object of Dr. Gill's affection in the past and his culpability in the present. Theirs was a fairytale story. Young, city bred, urban urbane man comes to a small hill station to study Medicine and falls in love with a local damsel. But he has to go back to the city for his exams. He promises to come back and marry her. But he doesn't. She keeps waiting, keeps his memories and a gift as an embodiment of hope- and she clings on to that hope like a flimsy rope knowing very well that if it snaps, it could also act as as a noose. What happens next? He doesn't come. Her illusion is shattered. Her innocence lost. There are even other clues that point to the fact that she may have borne his love child before her ultimate abandonment by him.We cut back to the present where suddenly, our protagonist finds himself face to face with a stranger whose countenance has an uncanny similarity to that of his lost love. Who is this enigmatic stranger, who happens to be a prostitute, to whom he feels so mysteriously attracted? Is she the reincarnation of his lost love or could it be that....yes that must be it! He pays her pimp to take her to his guest house. There, the revelation takes place and mournful at the news that this man had walked out on her desolate mother and thereby subjecting herself and her mother to years of destituteness, she walks out on him.In the last scene, he seeks forgiveness and she grants him that by agreeing to go with him to the city (just like her mother would've and should've many moons ago) and we leave them like that, unsure of the future facing them but sure of their intentions of facing it togetherThe story of the movie is fairly simple. The doctor goes back to his past that he had left behind and once there, he remembers his lost love, discovers himself and meets a mysterious stranger who would eventually change the course of his life. The pace of the movie is like the doctor's vacation- unhurried, laid back and luxurious. The camera smacks of poignant poetry in every frame, metaphorical interludes amidst the sophisticated narrative. 'Dil Dhoondta Hai' probably has some of the best use of photography- bringing together the two ends of the continuum- the past and the present, the start and the end. That one song is enough to grant this film a permanent place in my heart's graveyard. Bhupinder's vocal builds an emotional bridge between the viewer and the protagonist. You feel as if you are Dr. Gill and that you can almost touch Kajli by extending your arm through the confetti- like mist. Sanjeev Kumar is magical. Sharmila probably gives the performance of a lifetime. But with a role like hers, in a film like this, it would've been hard to falter.But ultimately, the film belongs to its creator. Gulzar weaves a tale like a rich, exotic, Pashmina Shawl. A tale of lost love- a favorite subject with Gulzar, is probably told in three parts- Mausam, Aandhi and Ijaazat. Mausam, released in 1975, forms one installment in this wonderful trilogy. Its memory is one to cherish for a long long time just like Dali's surreal masterpiece