Vivah

Poonam grew up with her uncle; her parents died and her aunt keeps her apart from her own daughter. Her uncle finds her a match. Prem works for his father's business in Delhi and was raised the same way. The two families meet. The young people are introduced and the engagement is set six months ahead. Over that time they talk on the telephone, try to know each other and slowly grow close. A few days before the wedding a fire breaks out at the house. Poonam is badly burned. Now the question is whether the wedding will happen. Sooraj Barjatya writes and directs. Shahid Kapoor plays Prem and Amrita Rao plays Poonam; Anupam Kher and Seema Biswas are in the cast. The language is Hindi. The film was made on a low budget and did far more business than expected. The matter it treats is arranged marriage; the film does not criticise it and affirms it as a tradition. The narrative keeps conflict to a minimum; there is next to no villain and the families are in accord. Barjatya is known for family films and this is among the best known works in that vein. The narrative holds long on the two getting acquainted, and even a touch comes late. The fire is its only point of tension and the manner changes there. The film was criticised for its conservative outlook; the woman does not make her own decisions. Its limit is its outlook; the narrative is traditional, the conflict contrived, and the ending too tidy. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian family films and traditional melodrama. Who it is not for: it is conservative, slow, and the ending easy.