Vivah

About the film

Vivah (transl. Wedding – transl. Marriage) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film written and directed by Sooraj R. Barjatya. Produced and distributed by Rajshri Productions, the film is a remake of the production's earlier Bengali film Subhodrishti (2005), with some plot changes. It stars Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao as lead, alongside Anupam Kher, Alok Nath, Seema Biswas, Amrita Prakash, Samir Soni and Lata Sabharwal. Vivah tells the story of two individuals, and relates their journey from engagement to marriage and aftermath.

Vivah is the fourth film to feature Shahid Kapoor opposite Amrita Rao. The film was released on 10 November 2006. It became a commercial success, and the tenth highest-grossing film of the year, grossing more than ₹49 crore (US$5.1 million) worldwide. Critical reception was mixed; some reviewers found it dramatically lacking and bloated, but it also has been credited for triggering changes to the way marriage is depicted on film. It became an unexpected success, as well as Kapoor and Rao's biggest commercial success at that point.

Plot

Poonam is a middle-class girl living in the small town of Madhupur in Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh. Her parents died in her childhood, and since then, her uncle Krishnakant has filled a father's void in her life. However, his wife Rama is jealous of Poonam's beauty and unable to accept her, driven by the fact that their own daughter Rajni is darker in complexion and not as fair-skinned as her cousin. Despite this, Rajni and Poonam are close and consider themselves sisters. Harish Chandra Bajpayee, a renowned businessman in New Delhi, has two sons: the married Sunil and the soft-spoken and well-educated Prem.

Poonam's simple and affectionate demeanor impresses Bhagatji, a jeweller and Krishnakant's friend, who takes her marriage proposal for Prem. Harish asks for his son's opinion on the proposition. Hesitant, Prem feels he needs to focus on his career first. Harish convinces him to at least meet Poonam before deciding, which Prem agrees to. They visit the Mishras and let him get acquainted with Poonam. Prem and Poonam are instantly attracted to each other, agree to the marriage, and get engaged.

Krishnakant invites Bajpayees to their summer place in Som Sarovar so Prem and Poonam get to know each other better. The two go through the most magical and romantic period of their lives, begin to fall in love, and become attached. Later, Harish and his family return home to attend a business meeting urgently. Poonam and Prem communicate via telephone and letter. Prem joins the business and takes on an essential project in Japan.

Production

Sooraj Barjatya noted that the story of Vivah is based upon a newspaper article his father read in 1988. Like in all of Barjatya's previous films, the male lead is named Prem. Later, he also took up the idea from Prabhat Roy's 2005 film Subhodrishti, the only Bengali film produced by Rajshri Productions. The story combined elements of Hindu tradition to set itself up as a film of cultural significance and was constructed differently than Barjatya's earlier films. He also introduced some changes to the film's storyline—for instance, he portrayed the female protagonist as ill, whereas in the original story, it was the male lead who was unwell. Barjatya hoped that the film would be remembered as the first to tackle the definitions and dynamics of a marriage. In an interview with Times of India Barjatya said, he kept in mind all the novels of Saratchandra Chatterjee while making Vivah. Barjatya felt that the film should possess a lyrical feel, since it was, according to him, "a lyrics oriented film."

Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao were cast as the leads Prem and Poonam. The film marks their fourth project together after Ishq Vishk (2003), Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! (2005) and Shikhar (2005).

Kapoor played the soft-spoken and well-educated Prem. In an interview he stated that he had a tough time during the shoot and added, "I was a big city kid. I wasn't getting half the things that were happening. I just followed what Sooraj sir said and I did it with all my honesty." Rao played Poonam, a simple middle-class girl. She added, "I caught the sur of the character from Sooraj ji. I used to hear and see him very attentively, grab his sur and get into the character of Poonam. The challenge was to make her look simple without making her look fake."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack (songs and the background score) and lyrics for Vivah was scored by Ravindra Jain. Vivah was seventh collaboration of Ravindra Jain with Rajshri Productions. It was produced under the Saregama label. The composer primarily gave special importance to "taal" and opted to keep two "antras" followed by a "mukhra" in the songs. The orchestra combines with classical Indian instruments, like the sitar, sarod, violin, dholak and tabla to produce a blend between classical western and classical Indian music. The complete film soundtrack album was released on 26 September 2006.

Although the songs were appreciated, the music was criticised due to its monotony choice of instruments and music arrangements being very similar to one another. Rediff.com wrote in its music review that, "Vivah's music disappoints".

Key details