Vivah [2006]

Vivah
[Reviewed: 26th December 2006]

The first time on Christmas that I saw an Indian movie, and one of the first times after such a long gap that my entire family watched a movie till late night - they actually sat through the entire film, and weren't talking through it - trust me this rarely happens these days, if ever!

Expectations: I've loved every single film directed by Sooraj Bharjatya... Be it Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Hum Saath Saath Hain or Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon - I love them all, a lot! So my expectations for Vivaah were extremely high in that sense... I expected a beautiful family film... Sooraj Bharjatya's sense of filmmaking is a genre in itself and I wanted 'his' kind of movie, and nothing else. I wanted to see Vivaah in the cinema but none of my local cinemas were showing it (why did Sooraj give this film limited release? I have no clue why he did this because it truly has Blockbuster potential! Sooraj!!) so I waited for the DVD and though I still can't find a copy to buy anywhere, my rental shop had a rental-copy so I got to see it last night!

Story: Nothing too difficult to come up with, yet funnily enough it was new and unique, I've never seen anything like it before! How strange that no one came up with the idea of making a film on this simple and sweet story, earlier!

Sidenote: I didn't see Salman's picture in Poonam's room *sniff* ... Either I missed it or was it edited out of the film? Someone help me out here ! LOL I don't want to miss it the next time I watch it!

Music: Sadly the only downside to the film...It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything great either. The lyrics were dodgy at times (Ocean and Roshan? Just for the sake of rhyming? LOL) but suited the theme of the film so it was OK... The music itself however was a bit disappointing from a Sooraj Bharjatya film - all his other 4 directorials have albums featuring in my all time favourite music list, this doesn't. But it's OK coz the beauty of the film made up for the not so great music! I still do wish the music was better though...

Performances

Shahid Kapoor I've always considered him one of my favourite newbies in the industry, he impresses me with each and every one of his performances right from the time he debuted. I hope Shahid sees a lot of success in his career and after Vivaah, I genuinely believe that's really possible! He was brilliant as Prem! I've loved all the actors who've essayed the Prem roles (and even other roles) in Sooraj's films and felt they always excelled, but after Salman and Saif, Shahid has to be my favourite Sooraj Bharjatya hero! He was so awesome, so natural, so adorable!

Amrita Rao I absolutely loved her in Ishq Vishk and Main Hoon Na, but always found her annoying in her other films. Vivaah reminded me just how much potential this actress has. She was brilliant as Poonam, and I can't imagine anyone (none of my favourites even, and definitely not a senior actor) essay this role as beautifully as her. She was made to be Poonam and excelled incredibly well, I love her all over again!

I really hope both Shahid and Amrita win lots of awards for their performances. I knew people had been raving about them in Vivaah but I didn't believe how great they would be until I saw it for myself and now I actually believe they have just as much chance, if not more, as any of their seniors to sweep the awards, good luck to them because they'll deserve all the awards and rewards they receive, they rocked and made the perfect Sooraj Bharjatya couple, which reminds me - how adorable is their chemistry aww they looked gorgeous together!! What can I say? Sooraj Bharjatya has found his new Prem, as well as the most perfect Bharjatya heroine possible! The best thing about them was they appeared so natural in their performances...

Alok Nath One of his best performances, he was brilliant! I really felt his pain, aww his role was so cute and his performance was fantastic!

Anupam Kher As always Anupam was flawless...It's great to see him become so active this year in the film industry, he's always been one of my favourites and will always be!

Everyone else was brilliant and perfectly cast as well! I loved the people who played Shahid's brother and bhabi, they were awesome! Was great to see the actor who played his bro, as he also featured in my favourite Indian TV series (JJKN) so was nice to see him back! Mohnish Behl was nice in his short appearance. Seema Biswas had the most annoying character but performed well, although she didn't have much to do except walk around with a blank face really haha, gotta say she received the most comments (not so pleasent and not suitable to mention at the forums haha) from my family The girl playing Amrita's cousin {Chotti} was good too...Everyone was good and well cast!

Moments in the film: I loved so many! All those sweet/romantic moments made me feel like marrying Shahid, I swear I've fallen in love with him all over again, and I've fallen in love with his Prem And the ending was so emotional and put my heart in my throat!

Sooraj Bharjatya is one of a kind! No one can make his kind of movies, only he can! If anyone else tried making Vivaah the way he did - they would've fallen flat on their faces and made it look cheap/corny/cheesy, but he doesnt.. He makes a sweet and beautiful film! One of the best films this year, and perhaps one of my favourite films ever actually! It was GREAT to see a film like this, really refreshing. His work in Vivaah, as a director/filmmaker, is as remarkable as all his previous work. I didn't see as much cheesy/corny/fake-giggly stuff as I expected, it was all so sweet but not over-sweet, it still appeared very real! Sooraj rocks, I can't wait for his next movie - I hope he doesn't take too long a break, and I hope next time he has enough faith in his popularity as a filmmaker to release his film with a lot more prints!