200px Poonam [Amrita Rao] lost her parents, when she was very young. She was brought up by her uncle Krishna Kant [Alok Nath] and her aunt Rama [Seema Biswas]. However, Rama is jealous of her and barely talks to her, since Poonam is more beautiful than her own daughter Rajni [Amrita Prakash], who is lively and friendly. Bhagat-ji [Manoj Joshi], a jeweller, and a friend of Krishna Kant, likes Poonam very much and decides to matchmake her with Prem [Shahid Kapoor], Mr. Harish Chandras [Anupam Kher] son, as Bhagat-ji is friends with Mr. Harishchandra. Mr. Harishchandra informs Prem of his plans to matchmake him, as he believes Prem is of proper age, young enough to adapt to someone else, and, Prems brother, Sunil [Samir Soni], was about the same age when he married Bhavna [Lata Sabharwal]. Prem, however, is hesitant to marry, since he thinks himself to be too young and wants to focus on his career first. Harishchandra convinces him to meet Poonam first. They visit Poonams family and let Prem and Poonam to get to know each other. Though their first conversation is awkward, Prem and Poonam decide to get married, as they are instantly attracted to each other. The two families agree to meet each other again, so Prem and Poonam get the opportunity to know each other better. Krishna Kant invites Prems family to their summer residence in Som Sarovar and Harishchandra accepts. Poonam anxiously awaits Prem to come to Som Sarovar, however, until Bhavna arranges a meeting between the two, they barely have the chance to talk to each other. After several carefree days, Harishchandra and his family has to leave again because of the family business, which leaves Poonam and Prem only the opportunity to communicate via telephone, internet or letter. Despite the distance between them, they grow closer and Prem, before going to a business trip to Japan, tells Poonam on the phone that he has fallen in love with her. When Prem comes back from Japan, Poonam is there to greet him on the airport, gets to spend some time at his house and finally returns to her own family on order to prepare for the wedding. thumb However, a night before the actual wedding, a fire emerges at Krishna Kants house. Even though Poonam runs out of the house in time, she realizes that Rajni is still inside and goes to save her. In this attempt Poonam gets heavily burnt. Prem, occupied with his own wedding preparations, is informed by Bhavna of Poonams accident and goes to see his fiancee at the hospital. She is very unsure if Prem will marry her, now that she has been scarred. The doctor [Mohnish Behl] informs the family that there is hope, however the operation to save Poonam may be dangerous and Poonam will take much time to recover. Harishchandra arranges for specialists to be flown in from Delhi and Prem, despite her injury, still wishes to marry her and accepts her as a wife by bringing sindhoor to her at the hospital. The operation is successful and the wedding commences. They get married joyfully and enjoy their lives together as husband and wife.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack includes a Bonus CD from Ustad Bismillah Khan. Ravindra Jain, the music director of Vivah has put together a soundtrack of old world charm, with a full orchestra behind some of the best known voices of the Hindi movie scene. 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 music has, however been criticised due to its monotony, with the range of singers, choice of instrument and music arrangements being very similar. Rediff.com wrote in its music review that "Vivahs music disappoints".

Song	Artist	Other notes
Mujhe Haq Hai	Udit Narayan & Shreya Ghoshal
Do Anjaane Ajnabi	Udit Narayan & Shreya Ghoshal
Milan Abhi Aadha Adhura	Udit Narayan & Shreya Ghoshal
Hamari Shaadi Mein	Babul Supriyo & Shreya Ghoshal
Kal Jisne Janam Yahan	Suresh Wadkar & Kumar Sanu
O Jiji	Pamela Jain & Shreya Ghoshal
Savaiyaa	Suresh Wadkar & Aparnaa Bhaagwa
Savaiyaa	Shreya Ghoshal

Promotion

To promote the movie, Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao have sold tickets themselves at the Fame Malad Theatre in Malad, Mumbai. Also, there have been sarees, bindis and free ticket give-aways in several theatres where the movie ran.

Trivia

*This is Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Raos fourth movie together *The role of Poonam A.K.A Amrita, was actually given to Amisha Patel, but dropped out

Cultural impact

= Indian painter M. F. Husain, who has painted Madhuri Dixit, the female lead of Sooraj R. Barjatyas Hum Aapke Hain Koun, decided to create a series of pictures inspired by Amrita Rao and Vivah. He announced to create "an entire exhibition around her" and noted her "tremendous potential". He organised a private screen for 150 friends and press attendees to "convey his interest for the film" at Dubai''s Plaza cinema. The Regent, a theater in Patna, Bihar, has put up a huge paandal [festive banner] in order to promote the movie. The paandal reads Poonam weds Prem and the theater has been getting inquiries if they entered the wedding business. Several movies have been highly successful in Bihar and their protagonists have been emulated by the movie goers; in Vivahs case, it has become fashionable to wed like Poonam and Prem from Vivah.

Box office and ratings

= Like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Rajshri Productions released limited number of prints for the film and eventually increased prints with increasing popularity. The film was declared a blockbuster, after earning Rs 22.22 crore net gross after seven weeks of running. As of 6 March 2007 the film had earned Rs 30.91 crore in box office earning. By the end of November, it was reported that there had been over 4 million [4,000,000*$9.99=Approx.Rs.18Cr.] online streams of Vivah. Running into its thirty-fifth week, its position still remained in the top 10 at the Indian box office despite its limited release and competition from some of years and industrys most successful movies including Dhoom 2, Bhagam Bhag, Krrish, Don - The Chase Begins Again, Jaan-E-Mann all being released after Vivahs debut. Vivahs grand total stands at Rs. 34.48 crore for a film made at an modest budget of 10 crores.

Critical

= Vivah received a mixed response by critics: Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM generally compliments the actors by calling Shahid Kapoor a "tremendous actor", Amrita Rao "splendid all through" and compliments the strong supporting cast, he criticises the first half as "ordinary/routine". Raja Sen of Rediff gave a generally negative review of Vivah, calling it "a nightmare" and "unforgivably regressive". Deepa Ghalot of Sify.com called Vivah "close to being regressive" and "syrupy sweet", however, she complimented Shahid Kapoors acting. The Hindustan Times called Vivah "boring" and an "utopia", but complimented Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao on their acting, calling the first one "good", but "lacking charisma" and the latter "sweet". "The Hindu" however called Vivah "lovable" and a "choice unlikely to regret". BBC.co.uk complimented Shahid Kapoor as being "playful", called the movie itself however "sickeningly sentimental". The Telegraph criticised Vivah for "lacking plot", "flat characters" and mentioning that the story is "rather weak" and "improbable".

Internet release

thumb Vivah is the first Indian movie to be simultaneously released in cinema and on the production companys official site. Rajshri Media Limited, the digital arm of the Rajshri group is responsible for the release. The company hopes to marginalise piracy. Rajshri.com has served one million streams within seven days in association with limewire networks i.e.one stream is priced at $9.99 roughly it makes Rs.4.5cr. in the first week it self, and Rajjat A. Barjatya, managing director of Rajshri Media Limited claims that Vivah has done "very well" being streamed online.