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Rediff.com  » Movies » Ivar Vivahitharaayal is regressive

Ivar Vivahitharaayal is regressive

By Paresh C Palicha
June 15, 2009 16:56 IST
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You may have seen films with social messages on maintaining matrimonial harmony. Ivar Vivahitharaayal, the Malayalam film directed by debutant Saji Surendran sticks to the same premise, though the formula has been tweaked a little to make it feel like a new age story.

So what is new, you may ask. Lets find out.

There is the hero Vivek (Jayasurya sporting a well trimmed stubble), a 22-year-old who has written his MBA final year exams in Pondicherry and Kavya (Bhama), a 20-year-old aggressive student-cum-radio jockey with feminist ideals.

After returning from Pondicherry, Vivek throws childish tantrums to get married. His lawyer parents, (who have separated but still live as neighbours for the sake of their only child) cannot convince him otherwise. It is decided that Vivek will marry very soon and his name is registered with a marriage bureau (again a new age thing, not depending on the broker or a middleman).

As scriptwriter's Krishna Poojapppura would have it, Kavya (who has problems in her birth chart) is found to be the perfect match for Vivek. As expected there is a clash of values and ideals that cascade to the point of divorce.

After a couple of convulsive twists and turns and a slew of supporting characters giving undesired thickness to the plot, we come to the climax.

One wonders whether the film is a comment on the youngsters' take on a relationship in a positive sense or not. As KB Ganesh Kumar's cameo says that young people get into relationships very quickly and try to break them hastily before realising that relationships are for keeps, which the previous generation took years to do. We wish at least a percentage of effort was put into writing the other lines in the film as well.

The pretentious seriousness of the plot feels like mockery; be it the purely platonic friendship between the two genders as depicted by Vivek and his childhood friend Teresa (Samvrutha) or the older generation's habit of clinging to non-issues to perpetuate ill will like Vivek's parents played by Siddique and Rekha.

That leaves us only with the performance, which thankfully that does not disappoint. Jayasurya, in a semi serious role has his moments. He continues his good form from his previous release Currency. Bhama is intensity personified though her role is unevenly etched. Samvrutha shines through as the sprightly Teresa. Siddique as the non-performing chess crazy lawyer cuts a sorry figure. Rekha brings nothing special to her performance while Suraj Venjaramoodu continues his buffoonery as Siddique's assistant, who is reduced to being his chess partner and cook.

To sum up, Ivar Vivahitharaayal tries to be a new age family drama but falls in the regressive rap.

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Paresh C Palicha