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Vivah
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'Vivah' - A Family Entertainer

By Neha Kewal
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Sooraj Barjatya’s film ‘Vivah’ is a throwback to the cinema of yore, when romantic themes were presented through stories steeped in Indian tradition and culture.

In the times when filmmakers are trying bold and new concepts, Sooraj R. Barjatya chooses to be regressive. Going against the tide, Barjatya once again dares to bring his old concept of a perfect family drama on the silver screen in his latest presentation ‘Vivah’.

As

the tagline suggests, the movie’s story is the journey of a young couple from engagement to marriage. Well, Barjatiya’s concept is a little different from others, but not from his previous flicks.

‘Vivah’ is a story of Prem (Shahid Kapoor), Poonam (Amrita Rao) and their families. Prem is a rich, trendy guy from Delhi, whereas Poonam is a simple girl from Madhupur, brought up by her loving Chacha (Alok Nath) and jealous Chachi (Seema Biswas), who hates Poonam as she is beautiful than her own daughter Chhoti (Amrita Prakash).

On his father’s (Anupam Kher) insistence, Prem meets Poonam. After meeting her, he finds his soul mate in her and they get engaged to get married after six months.

Then starts their journey towards marriage. ‘Vivah’ shows those magical days of love from engagement to marriage. It shows the eagerness of a couple to get married. The emotional bonding between the characters shown by Barjatya is wonderful.

Everything in the story goes perfectly fine till marriage. Just a day before marriage, a tragedy strikes. Then arises the question whether the couple’s wait to get married will ever end or not?

The film’s biggest drawback is its boring music. The music is extraordinarily slow and sleep-inducing. Secondly, Barjatya’s story-telling style is a little sluggish, especially in the first half. The story picks up in the second half and touches a crescendo in the climax sequences.

The performances are up to the mark. Shahid Kapoor has acted like a mature actor and it is his best performance till now. Amrita Rao looks stunning in the movie. The shuddha (pure) Hindi used by her sounds sweet.

Anupam Kher and Alok Nath deliver polished performances. Seema Biswas is terrific. Her portrayal of a jealous mother is outstanding. Other actors like Sameer Soni, Amrita Prakash, Lata Sabarwal, Manoj Joshi, Dinesh Lamba and the child artist Ameya have also given notable performances.

Mohnish Bahl in his special appearance is awesome. He looks simply great as a doctor.

‘Vivah’ is a good family entertainer. It will particularly touch a chord among female audiences.

Watch it for the old-world charm.

[Vivah microsite] [Vivah preview] [Vivah picture gallery] [Vivah cast & crew]

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