Balaji Telefilms Ltd., Anil Kapoor Films & Communication Network and Saffron Broadcast & Media Ltd.’s Veere Di Wedding (A) is the story of four bold and modern girls who are very close to one another. The four – Kalindi (Kareena Kapoor Khan), Avni (Soham K. Ahuja), Sakshi (Swara Bhaskar) and Meera (Shikha Talsania) – have been childhood friends are are now leading their own lives.
Kalindi has been in a steady relationship since some years with Rishabh (Sumeet Vyas). She has had a traumatic childhood because of her parents’ (Kavita Ghai and Anjum Rajab Ali) constant fights. Her dad, Kishan, had remarried after her mother’s demise and although Kalindi can’t stand her stepmother, Paromita (Ekavali Khanna), she has feelings for her father, something which her paternal uncle, Cookie Chacha (Vivek Mushran), doesn’t approve of because the two brothers are sworn enemies.
Avni is a family court lawyer whose single mother (Neena Gupta) is constantly trying to convince her to get married to a suitable boy and settle down in life but Avni hasn’t found that perfect boy. Sakshi is married to Vineet (Suraj Singh) whom she now hates with a vengeance. She has returned to India after walking out on him and is currently staying with her parents (Babla Kochar and Bubbles Sabharwal). She smokes like a chimney, drinks alcohol like a fish drinks water, and uses swear words at the drop of a hat. She wants to divorce Vineet.
Meera is married to John (Edward Sonnenblick) who is a foreigner trying to learn Hindi. They have a two-year-old baby boy. Meera is not on talking terms with her guardian, her paternal uncle (Jitpreet Gill), because he has not accepted John as part of the family.
The four childhood friends meet once again for Kalindi’s marriage with Rishabh. But the marriage itself is called off by the overly sensitive Kalindi when she can’t handle the crazy wedding celebrations, planned by Rishabh’s extra-loud family. Kalindi had all along wanted a simple wedding.
After the break-up between Kalindi and Rishabh, the former is unable to erase him out of her memory. As for Rishabh, he has to deal with the break-up as also with the imprisonment of his father (Manoj Pahwa) in cheque-bouncing cases. During the wedding celebrations of Kalindi and Rishabh, Avni meets Bhandari (Vishwas Kinni), an eligible bachelor, who does all under his command to woo her. In her drunken stupor, Avni even spends a night in bed with Bhandari.
What happens finally? Does Kalindi make up with Rishabh and marry him? Does Avni find herself a suitable boy? Does Sakshi divorce Vineet or do the two of them kiss and make up? Does Meera’s paternal uncle accept John?
Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri have written a very bold subject in which all the four lead characters – Kalindi, Avni, Sakshi and Meera – speak their hearts out in the most colourful language. The duo has broken many norms of Hindi cinema, in their characterisations because in her own way, each of the four ladies is irreverent, unabashed, bold and even shameless. The four ladies are a far cry from the leading ladies we’ve seen in Hindi films and, therefore, they will shock the orthodox audiences. No doubt, the youngsters will accept the characterisations because one does get to see girls of the kind portrayed in the film but it must be added here, showing all of them so unabashed is a bit too much for the orthodox audience. The objectionable part for the orthodox viewers is that the girls, more often than not, encourage one another to put their ‘worst foot’ forward. Of course, the youth, especially the city-bred youth, will go with the characters and accept them for what they are. They will simply go berserk over the four-letter words mouthed by the A-list heroines, that too, with such flourish.
The duo’s screenplay is targeted at the youngsters but it is disjointed. The connection between Kalindi’s break-up with Rishabh and her traumatic past looks contrived. Also forced are Kalindi’s crazy reactions to the overtly warm and gregarious family members of Rishabh and to the loud wedding celebrations. Since such loud and colourful as well as crowded wedding celebrations are the norm rather than the exception in India, the orthodox audience will not be able to empathise with Kalindi. Some scenes are too bold for the Indian audience to digest on the big screen. An example of this is Sakshi’s vibrator scene.
But on the plus side, the two writers have remained true to the characters and have not tried to please all classes of audience or all strata of society. The film may be too bold but the writers haven’t even once tried to balance their script – they’ve written a drama which their characters can be expected to be involved in. So, the honesty of the writers needs to be lauded. Climax is hurried. Overall, the second half is better than the first half.
The duo’s dialogues, replete with four-letter words, will greatly appeal to youngsters and city audiences. The adults certificate of the film will keep a part of the target audience (between 12 and 18) away from the film.
Kareena Kapoor Khan looks gorgeous and acts with effortless ease, slipping into the character of Kalindi beautifully. Her costumes are very hep and enticing. Sonam K. Ahuja also looks very pretty and plays Avni cutely. Her costumes are a treat to the eyes. Swara Bhaskar is terrific as Sakshi and plays the foul-mouthed lady so wonderfully and so freely that it’s sheer delight to watch her. Shikha Talsania is supremely natural and effortless in the role of Meera. Sumeet Vyas is endearing as Rishabh. His acting is very realistic. Neena Gupta lends lovely support as Avni’s mom. Vishwas Kinni provides excellent support as Bhandari. Ayesha Raza is wonderful as Rishabh’s mother. As his father, Manoj Pahwa is good. Vivek Mushran has his moments as Cookie Chacha. Anjum Rajab Ali leaves a mark as Kalindi’s dad. In the brief role of her mother, Kavita Ghai is quite good. Ekavali Khanna leaves a mark as Kalindi’s stepmother. Suraj Singh (as Vineet) and Ishwak Singh (as Nirmal) stand their own. Alka Kaushal (as Santosh aunty), Sukesh Arora (as Keshav), Edward Sonnenblick (as John), Rayaan Chaudhary (as Kabir), Bubbles Sabharwal (as Sakshi’s mom), Babla Kochar (as Sakshi’s dad), Jitpreet Gill (as Meera’s paternal uncle), Kashish Kanwar (as younger Kalindi), Muskaan Khubchandani (as young Avni), Muskaan Malhotra (as young Sakshi), Smriti Setya (as young Meera), Vandana Chopra, Geeta Sudan and Vani Grewal (all three as aunties) are adequate.
Shashanka Ghosh’s direction is fairly good. Although he has adopted a fast-paced narrative style, he could’ve made a more seamless film, flowing freely from one scene to another. Nevertheless, credit is due to him for making such a bold film with such conviction. Music (Vishal Mishra, Qaran, Shashwat Sachdev and White Noise) is good and it will appeal to the youth. The ‘Tareefan’ song is very nice. Lyrics (Anvita Dutt, Qaran, Rupin Pahwa, Badshah, Shashwat Sachdev, Shellee, Gaurav Solanki, Raj Shekhar and White Noise) are appropriate. Choreography by Farhan Khan (for ‘Tareefan’), Feroz Khan (for ‘Pappi le lon’ and ‘Bhangda’) and Karishma Chavan (for ‘Veere’) is appealing. Arijit Datta’s background music is reasonably good. Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti’s cinematography and Jayakrishna Gummadi’s additional cinematography are eye-filling. Pria Ahluwalia’s production designing and Vijay Ghodke’s art direction are of a fine standard. Shweta Venkat Mathew’s editing is crisp.
On the whole, Veere Di Wedding has taken a flying start and it will keep everyone smiling despite the fact that a section of the audience will be critical of the content. In commercial terms, this one will turn out to be a richly rewarding proposal.