An open letter to Mr Pankaj Kapur

     Sir, I watched 'Mausam' last night despite being warned by film aficionados. I was always curious why it was a failure. I think I learnt few things as an audience about film making. Your idea of weaving a love story around the history of violence that this country has seen was commendable but I think you stretched it too far and left too much weight on your son, Shahid's shoulders. If Salman Khan was in this film he could have pulled it off by his sheer stardom but Shahid is still not that big a star.

Sir, I think you didn't follow your heart all through out, specially in the last 45mins or so, where you decided to make the protagonist a super hero. In fact, the treatment of the film also left me confused. It looked two different films in that mammoth 2 and 47 minutes run time and the audience got completely bored to death by the end.

The music was one of the plus points. Shahid and Sonam tried. But no offense, there is something in Sonam which doesn't appeal me as an audience. I think she will need more time to understand the pain of the scars which life leaves us with and such violence and pain which was a constant presence for the characters. The portrayal must have been deeper.

The film was good in parts in a few scenes but Shahid's physical features makes him look too young and he tried his best to portray the super hero. For him to carry out such depths, he will need more direction something which Vishal Baradwaj provided.

Unfortunately your script demanded a star more than an actor. It was important to show the protagonist as human like you and me, us. Sorry, but the audience became completely unforgiving when Gujarat Riot started. You could have still had few more fans if that would not have happened. It was too dramatic in the end.

Sir, you are one of the few Indian actors I admire and I know you can bring the depth you achieve in your acting in your direction as well. So hope to see your films again. Best of luck next time.

Suggestions:

1. I think you should have kept it to 2 hours.

2. The narration could have started with his plane going down mid air and then the film going into flashback.

His struggle to get his life on track and his inner turmoil would have given the film a poignant setting and the flashbacks to tell the stories could have kept the audience interested.

The story could have connected midway something that have been used in films such as Saathiya or Namaste London. And then in next 14-20 mins you could have finished the story instead of making him a super hero in the last 40 mins.

Phata Poster Nikhla Hero is NOT FUNNY enough!!!

First the disclaimer. I've a bais towards Shahid Kapoor. This is because I have always appreciated the fact that like a few other actors in India, he is a hard working and self made actor. He never got any favour for being Pankaj kapoor's son and so when he took a emotional decision to not sign any film for two years since he wanted to completely give himself up for his father's project 'Mausam', I could understand why he was doing it.

I was excited to watch him on screen after he had proved his worth in films such as 'Jab We met' and 'kaminey' but then at this peak of his career, he had taken that decision of not working in any other film beside 'Mausam'.

So naturally, when the teasers of 'Phata Poster Nikla hero' (PPNH) was released, there was a slight excitement in his fans to watch him on screen again. The fact that, it was Rajkumar Santoshi's film after his 'Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahaani', made it all the more enticing but with a heavy heart, I have to say, PPNH was a big let down.

Shahid has done his role to perfection. As he himself puts it in the film that he danced, fought, was romantic, was Maa-ka-lal and blah blah, but then there was no story in the film. It seemed it was an 1970s storyline where Ma (Padmini Kolhapure) wants him to be a police inspector, while son wants to be a hero and how he fakes a policewala act but then when Maa ko shock lala, son decides to give up his dream and works with the police.

The film could have been a good comedy but Santoshi fails to use the actors such as Sourabh Shukla, Zakir Hussain, Darshan Jariwala and sanjay Mishra. But then there was not much to do for them in the film as there scenes and dialogues were not funny enough and so what we get is a cake which was left half baked.

The comedy quotient of the film was never consistent. Few of the scenes and dialogues were funny but then the next scene was cliched and irritating. The fight scenes could have been better, while the songs were clearly forcibly inserted  into the scenes and completely disrupts whatever flow the script could manage.

The first half was fairly decent with a few funny situations but the second half tired out the audience with the revelation of Napolean (the villain) and with scenes which seemed where last minute inclusion to give poor Illeana D'Cruz and gang some reel time because the actress especially adds absolutely nothing to the film. Sanjay Mishra was wasted and his best scene is the one shown at the teaser. Sourabh Shukla too could have been given much better scenes and dialogues.

Shahid acted well, whether it was convincing Tinu Anand for landing a role or imitate Dev Anand in the climax. In fact, the Tinu Anand scene was so powerful that for a moment it felt it could have been better if he had done such an intense role rather than comedy.

Talking about climax, Santoshi tried to recreate the confusion of his 'Andaz Apna Apna' but fails miserably. In fine, this could have been a good vehicle for Shahid to once again rise his stakes as an actor, if only santoshi had spent more time on the script and dialogues.

Overall, I would go with a 2 and a half out of 5 for this film.