Locations in Europe: Edinburgh, Scotland
Storyline
Star(s): Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor
Songs/Dance: Located in Scotland and India
Indian/ International Crew: Indian and international.
Language: Hindi
Director/Producer: Pankaj Kapoor (Director); Madhu Mantena (Producer)
Line Producer/Executive Producer/ Associate Producer: Vivek Agarwal (co-producer); Tanvi Gandhi, Crispin Buxtor (Line Producers)
Film Location Analysis
By Ranjani Mazumdar
The love story in Mausam unravels within a narrative context of movement and displacement. As the story unfolds, important historical references are picked up to chronicle the travails and complications faced by the two protagonists, Harry and Ayat. If the first part of the love story conjures an image of rural Punjab, the second part is in Edinburgh, Scotland, an international space that includes a network of connections between Kashmir, rural Punjab, Scotland, Switzerland, the U.S., and Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This international network involves back-and-forth movement, and a substantial portion of the film is set in Scotland, where the romance is rekindled after a seven-year break.
The Edinburgh segment begins with the iconic Millennium Bridge in London. Thus, the transition to the UK is mediated via London and its only pedestrian bridge, which opened in June 2000. The bridge connects the city to important sites like St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Globe Theatre, and the Tate Modern. The bridge has generated an enormous amount of activity around it and remains a major hub for tourists visiting the city.
We transition from London's Millennium Bridge to Edinburgh's Grass Market. The song "Flowers of Edinburgh" is featured on the soundtrack. Visuals of a flower market and a horse-drawn carriage containing flowers are shown moving through a typical uphill street with houses lined on the sides. Edinburgh is established through its architectural and musical ambience. Then we see Ayat selling tickets for 20 pounds for a Mozart concert at the Grass Market. Located at the centre of Edinburgh’s Old Town, the Grass market is known for its vibrancy – a place where merchants, designers, craftsmen, and artisans can be found. There is always a lively atmosphere in this place of pubs and restaurants, shopping, cobbled streets, and medieval architecture.
The Grass Market is therefore the setting where Ayat suddenly spots Harry now in air force officers’ uniform walking with colleagues and then at a recognizable outdoor restaurant called “Last Drop.” Harry and his group of air force colleagues purchase tickets for the Mozart concert from Ayat's friend, and then we are at the Freemason Hall where the concert is held, established through the grandiosity of its interior. In this entire sequence, we are introduced to Edinburgh as a cultural and historical site with clear associations with classical music concerts, Scottish culture, and flowers.
The officers and Harry are then seen at the dramatic National Monument at Carlton Hill, where they salute and playfully jump into typical snapshot moments that are captured by a Kodak camera. In this touristic activity, a claim is made on space through its photographic rendering, which is important since the National Monument is a ruin from the past built in memory of Scottish soldiers who died during the Napoleonic Wars. As the group gets into their carriage, Harry suddenly notices Ayat walking in the distance. While Ayat had already spotted Harry at the Grass Market, this is the first moment when Harry sees Ayat. The slow and evocative portrayal of Edinburgh as a historic and cultural space now changes to a literal chase by Harry to find Ayat as she disappears into the city’s alleyways. His search for her takes us to New College, with its courtyard full of flowers for sale. A low-angle shot from the courtyard highlights the neo-gothic architecture of this building, and we can also see the tip of the Hub, which is Edinburgh’s festival centre. The low-angle shot offers the spectator a dramatic view of a neo-gothic cluster. Edinburgh now becomes the location for a renewed entanglement between the two.
The rekindled romance involves vignettes: tea at a café, a ballroom dance at the Free Mason Hall, a romantic horse carriage ride through the city at night, and a rendezvous in a garden. Marriage is on the cards, but events intervene, and Harry is forced to leave abruptly for India to join the war in Kargil. Ayat finally leaves for the US. Harry has been injured, and his left arm is paralyzed. He returns to look for Ayat in Edinburgh, which again shows him in a melancholic mood against Edinburgh’s architectural surfaces and water front at dusk. The romance is tested at every stage, and it involves constant dislocation linked to major events in the world. The 9/11 attack on the twin towers is referenced when we see Ayat’s childhood friend, Akram, held for questioning at the Zurich airport. The film's final image of Europe is a panoramic snowscape of the Alps in Switzerland, where Harry, travelling by the well-known Glacier Express, sees Ayat waiting in the snow. This is an eight-hour train ride that moves through breath-taking scenery and has been a tourist favourite. Unable to stop the train to get off, he runs back from the next station to board a waiting train. The mountains look dramatic, and inside the train, Harry sees Ayat with Akram and a child. Imagining them as a couple, he lets them be and returns to India. The romantic couple is united at the end, during the violence that engulfed Gujarat in 2002.
The mapping of Europe in Mausam follows a quiet approach, designed to stoke an old-fashioned romance. This is a type of emotional cartography that depicts scenes of longing, anxiety, and, on occasion, fear. The overwhelming approach to Europe is driven by the affective desire for virtual tourism. It is only when we return to India that the spatial atmosphere reaches a breaking point, engulfing the couple in a violent situation that they must endure and recover from.
Additional Information & Links
https://www.filmedinburgh.org/Filmed-Here/Mausam
https://universalextras.co.uk/extras/our-productions/mausam/
https://rrkelkar.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/filmy-weather-17-mausam-chasing-the-monsoon-in-scotland/
Tourism
https://www.timberbush-tours.co.uk/news-offers/bollywood-filming-locations-in-scotland
