Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi

Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi (English: A Marriage like this, too) is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film based on the story of Ashapurna Devi. The film is directed by Kaushik Ghatak and stars Isha Koppikar and Sonu Sood. Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi was released on 7 November 2008.
Plot
Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi is the story of Chandni who belongs to a middle-class family living in Bhopal and Prem who is an unconventional ghazal singer and hails from an upper-middle-class family. Chandni’s mother died when she was 15 and she has two very young brother and sister. Chandni and Prem meet to practice for a Ghazal competition and fall in love. Families meet and agree for their marriage. On the day of their engagement, Chandni's father dies leaving her younger brother and younger sister dependent on Chandni herself. Initially Chandni decides to leave the house and her siblings under the care of her paternal uncle- however when she realizes that her unscrupulous uncle and aunt want only the house and care two hoots about her siblings, she decides to bring them up herself. Prem promises to wait for her and assists her in her troubles- while at the same time having become a famous ghazal singer.
Chandni sacrifices her dream of becoming a singer and start giving music lessons at home. She also sings in parties and weddings to earn livelihood. Years pass by, her siblings have grown up now. Her brother graduates with flying colours and lands up with a good job. He insists Chandni to leave all the responsibilities on him. She insists that he marry his long-time girlfriend Natasha. Since Natasha is from an affluent family, he believes that she won’t understand their culture and lifestyle. But he marries her anyway.
Believing that now Anuj and Natasha will take care of the ancestral house, Chandni and Prem decide to get married. But Chandni’s problems never seem to end. Chandni's brothers wife Natasha refusing to keep up with traditions and demanding a separate life with her husband.
Prem’s mother who had grown old and wants to see her son married requests Chandni to marry him or leave him for good. Chandni who has already sent her brother with his wife to lead a separate life, cannot leave her sister alone. She wants to send her sister abroad for further studies. She asks Prem to forget her and get married for his mother’s sake.
Chandni’s student who is settled with his family abroad agrees to help arrange Chandni’s sister’s studies. His mother then gets a thought of getting them married. Chandni agrees and plans to go on a pilgrimage after this. On the other hand, Anuj feels helpless being separated from his sisters. Natasha’s father makes her realise her mistake and understand the importance of family.
In the end, Natasha and Anuj returns home in younger sister’s marriage. Chandni is now free from her responsibilities. Prem returns with his mother to finally take Chandni to his home. Chandni and Prem's marriage is arranged and they are shown singing in a show together signifying that they lived happily ever after.
Cast
Sonu Sood as Prem Ajmera
Isha Koppikar as Chandni Shrivastava Ajmera
Vishal Malhotra as Anuj B. Shrivastava, Chandni's younger brother
Anand Abhyankar as Chandni's uncle
Amrita Prakash as Sandhya B. Shrivastava, Chandni's younger sister
Alok Nath as Bhushan Shrivastava
Smita Jaykar Mrs Ajmera (Prem's mother)
Chhavi Mittal as Natasha A. Shrivastava
Vallabh Vyas as Dr. Prabhat
Soundtrack
Ravindra Jain was the music director and lyricist of this album.
Critical reception
Manish Gajjar of BBC.com gave the film 4 out of 5, writing "Eesha Koppikhar gives a sincere and tear-jerking performance as the courageous Chandni, who rises above her own needs to look after her family in the hour of need. Sonu Sood acts well as the respectful son and lover, who patiently wait for 12 long years to be with Chandni. On the whole, Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi is a family entertainer appealing to audiences who like sentimental love stories and crave for traditional Hindi movies." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 out of 5, writing "On the whole, EK VIVAAH... AISA BHI is akin to a delicious Indian thali in times of Pastas and Pizzas. You may opt for international cuisine at times, but Indian food, for an Indian at heart, would never go out of vogue. At the box-office, expectedly, the film may start slow, but it has the merits to climb the ladder with each passing show. The strategy of releasing the film at single screens and that too at limited centres makes wise business sense, since EK VIVAAH... AISA BHI is not the multiplex kind of movie. Business at single screens of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar should be the best."
Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film 2 out of 5, writing "I’m going with two out of five and at best an average rating for director Kaushik Ghatak’s Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi. Watch it if you must for Isha Koppikar’s confident performance, she’s in very good form even though the film isn’t." Patcy N of Rediff.com gave the film 2 out of 5, writing "The first half is kind of slow (must be all those songs) though the pace picks up in the second half. Music here is not as catchy as in the previous Rashree outings. Performance-wise, the entire cast has done a decent job. Not quite Vivah but romantics can still go for this one."
References
External links
2008 films
2000s Hindi-language films
Rajshri Productions films
Films about Indian weddings
Films based on works by Ashapurna Devi
Films set in Madhya Pradesh