Viraam

Story: A kind-hearted Dehradun-based businessman takes in a runaway bride who got duped by her fiancé. With time, love blossoms between them. But will they be able to come out in public with their relationship and become man and wife?

Review: Viraam is a slow, cliché-ridden Poison Ivy-inspired film set in Dehradun; albeit with a twist. Mathun (Urmila Mahanta) is found by a rich businessman Abhiraj Malhotra (Narendra Jha) at a dhaba where she’s literally in a soup for eating for free. He gets to know that she has been tricked by her fiancée who ran off with all her jewels and money at Doon station. The nice guy that he is, he takes her in as a maid and hopes to go on with his life as a career-widower. Little does he know that fate has something else in store for him. Cupid takes a square aim at his heart and rapidly passions rise within as he finds himself drawn to Mathun. One stormy night, they finally get intimate, which kicks off a hornets-net of self-doubt within the gent. The class difference, the age difference and the fact that he still loves his deceased wife are chief among the thoughts that eat him from inside.

Mathun, on her part, has a completely different journey. She must first ingratiate herself with the loyal house help before any romantic angle can happen. The fact that she turns into a female version of Rajesh Khanna’s Anand and becomes an essential cog in the Malhotra household, seems forced and unreal.

While there is a semblance of a story in the film, Viraam is riddled with clichés of the highest order. The main questions, about whether a maid can be completely accepted by a socialite as his wife, are side-lined. Instead, the movie tries to be clever with its plot which is its death knell.

With insipid performances, a very slow pace and a plot that you can smell miles away, Viraam is a film that could have been better if it avoided the clichéd treatment that is often given to Hindi films.