Sooraj Barjatya made several super hit films like ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ and ‘Hum Aapke Hai Kaun’ which touched a cord with the masses. These films were based on loads of Indian traditions, customs, lavish wedding ceremonies, plenty of song dance and drama and mostly touching relationships and emotions. Sooraj’s latest film ‘Vivah’ once again is replete with all these frills and tries to recapture a lost genre of films. Sooraj genuinely wants to revert back to making films that are clean, traditional and high on emotions. Well to an extent Sooraj does manage to recapture the lost glory of a simple pure love story. Firstly because even though audiences are now open to more different urban centric themes, they will always love a well told love story. Moreover Sooraj’s effort does come across as sincere and genuine in the film. However if there is anything that does go against Vivah, it’s the lethargic pace, and its characters who are definitely too good to be true. Overall Vivah does emerge as an average film that manages to do what it has set out to do which is make you laugh, cry and then finally emerge with a happily ever after good feeling.
Vivah belongs to the genre of traditional love stories and has been directed and written by Sooraj Barjatya. The lead characters portray young stars like Shahid Kapur as Prem and Amrita Rao as Poonam. The other actors include Anupam Kher, Alok Nath, Seema Biswas, Sameer Soni, Manoj Joshi, Jatin Siyal, Dinesh Lamba, Shreya Sharma, Amrita Prakash, Mohnish Behl in a special appearance and others. It has the tagline of ‘A Journey from engagement to marriage’.
Vivah depicts Prem (Shahid Kapur) as a young eligible city boy who loves and respects his family and their wishes. He is the son of a rich Delhi businessman Harishchandra (Anupam Kher). Prem is not interested in getting married so soon in life, but nonetheless agrees to meet a girl who his family has chosen. Poonam a young girl from Madhupur is the girl whom he will soon meet. Poonam is a small town girl who is an orphan and has been brought up by her uncle (Alok Nath) who dotes on her. Both the families arrange a meeting between the two young people. Prem and Poonam meet and immediately connect with each other. Prem is smitten with the simplicity and traditional ideals of Poonam while she too is enamored by his down to earth nature. The young couple much to the delight of their family agrees to get married and the wedding date is fixed for six months down the line.
Now the young couple finds that they have six months to get to know, understand and love each other. These magical six months are supposed to be every couple’s dream where they get to know their soon to be partner and understand them. Prem and Poonam begin to spend time with each other and gradually become each others strength and their liking gradually changes into young love and maturity. Unfortunately just when things are going great and the couple are about to wed, tragedy strikes. A tragic event takes place in Poonam’s life, so will Prem stand by her side and support her through this crisis? And will their love manage to survive this tragedy?
Vivah is no doubt a fair family entertainer, it has a simple script but there is a twist towards the end which catches your attention. The screenplay too has been executed in a fair manner with lots of girl meets boy moments, family traditions and bonding. There are plenty of songs which tend to interrupt the narrative at times. There are several moments throughout the film which definitely touch the audiences. The film has a good dose of sentimentality and emotions. The climax is worthy and interesting. Director Barjatya’s story and execution exude sincerity, compassion and innocence. His style retains the old world charm and gives you a fairly warm and compassionate love tale.
However this love story does have blemishes like the extremely slow pace of the film. Actually right through the film there are just two events, firstly the meeting of the young couple and second their courtship and the only third aspect which is gripping is brought in towards the end of the film. In an almost three hour film there certainly could have been more sub plots introduced. Also the characters are too good to be true and tend to have just one dimension to their personalities. Also the attempt at humour in places could have been better.
Being a love story that relies heavily on song and dance, the music is lackluster. Ravindra Jain’s music is too boring and none of the songs really leave a mark after the film is over. Even during the film, the songs are too many and simply intrude on the narrative. Cinematography by Harish Joshi is disappointing too. Dialogues have sincerity and are high on emotional content. Performances are mediocre. Shahid Kapur as Prem is adept at handling his character and handles the emotional content very well. A fairly decent performance by Shahid after a long time. Amrita Rao is the quintessential girl next door and performs her role with extreme ease and finesse. Shahid and Amrita share a very relaxed and comfortable chemistry with each other. Although her role demanded that she look the sweet, traditional and innocent type, Amrita’s styling could have been less stern and archaic. Anupam Kher and Alok Nath are extremely good in their roles. Seema Biswas is extremely capable; Amrita Prakash is average in her performance. The rest of the cast is fair.
Vivah has a young and fresh cast who although competent still don’t enjoy the popularity of big stars. Moreover the film’s promos were extremely lackluster which may lead to a poor start for the film. The conventional story may also go against it. However the film does come across as an average entertainer which does have an average potential. At the box-office hopefully the slow start may give way to at least an average score. Sooraj Barjatya along with his two leads Shahid and Amrita still manage to stay in the running.
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| Reviewed By: Rachel Fernandes |
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