Vivah is by far the mellowest, most subdued least ostentatious film by Sooraj Barjatya. Its core plot comes from Bimal Roy’s Sujata where a mother of an adopted daughter cannot give her the same love as her biological child until an incident happens, and the mother realizes that blood is thicker than ‘daughter’. Sooraj told this writer that Vivah was based on a newspaper story that his father read about a man who stood by his wife in times of adversity.
To Sooraj, it seemed to signify the simplicity of our middleclass. This time in Vivah , Sooraj removed all the big sets from his earlier films and shot on real locations. In this film, there were no wedding festivities and functions.
The reviews for Vivah were not encouraging. But Sooraj was undaunted. Even Hum Aapke Hain Koun was panned by the critics.
Sooraj was prepared for the flak. He believed his audience is the hardcore middleclass, not the South Mumbai residents. Sooraj never had people coming to him with this kind of response for his previous film Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon .
Sooraj admitted that he went through a great turmoil after Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon . His self-confidence was shaken. Vivah took him back to his roots.
Throughout its making, he was told this kind of films don't work anymore, that the times had changed, and the moral values were no longer the same. But Sooraj stubbornly stuck to his guns. When Sooraj started planning Vivah , he thought of casting two newcomers.
Eventually it was Shahid Kapoo.
