Vivah - Movie Review

Published: October 3, 2009

By JENNIFER HOPFINGER

Starring Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Anupam Kher

Alok Nath, Seema Biswas

A beautiful orphan is despised by the jealous aunt who raised her, but in this Cinderella story, her ugly cousin loves her like a sister and her kind uncle finds her a Prince Charming to marry.

 

The director, Sooraj R. Barjatya, based the story on a 20-year-old newspaper article. Barjatya always gives his male lead characters the name Prem, which means “love.” The Prem in Vivah is played by Shahid Kapoor, and he’s the handsome son of a wealthy industrialist in Delhi. Prem is about to begin his career at his father’s company, and his father thinks it’s the perfect time for him to settle down with a wife. However, Prem is dragging his feet about marriage—until the sight of Poonam (played by Amrita Rao) rocks him back on his heels.

 

Poonam is a traditional, middle-class girl from a small town near Delhi. Her uncle, Krishnakant (Alok Nath), makes arrangements for her marriage, but he’s sad about the prospect of losing her. Her aunt, Rama (Seema Biswas), on the other hand, can’t wait to get rid of her. She’s jealous of Poonam’s beauty and resentful of her husband’s affection for the girl. Rama wishes her daughter Rajni wasn’t so unattractive and unrefined, but Rajni is content with herself. It drives Rama crazy that Poonam is marrying into such a wonderful family, but Rajni is happy for her cousin. Prem’s father, Mr. Harischandra (Anupam Kher), is welcoming and unpretentious about his wealth, and Prem’s brother, Sunil, is a nice guy, who already works at their father’s company, and he has a loving wife, Bhavna, and an adorable son, Rahul.

 

Arranged marriage is very foreign to most Americans, but when seen from the perspective of the parties involved, it doesn’t seem so strange. The couple decides after one meeting (with their families)—during which sparks fly—that they want to marry. Talk about speed dating! But it’s surprisingly romantic.

 

As the families prepare for the wedding and the couple embarks on a sweet post-engagement courtship, there’s little conflict in the story, but with all the delicious tension between the two lead characters, who are going to burst if they don’t get their hands on each other, who cares?

 

And when conflict finally comes two-thirds of the way through the film, putting their love to the test, it’s a doozy.

Vivah is rated Must See.

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