Veere Di Wedding – Movie Review

The Hindi film industry has made a bunch of films that have celebrated male friendship but it has seldom touched upon the dynamics of the relationship between female friends. Rhea Kapoor has earlier co-produced films (‘Aisha’, ‘Khoobsurat’) that had a young woman as the central protagonist. Her new film ‘Veere Di Wedding’, co-produced with Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Films and Nikhil Dwivedi’s Saffron Broadcast Media and starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania, seems to be Bollywood’s answer to the female buddy film.

Kalindi (Kareena Kapoor Khan), Avni (Sonam Kapoor Ahuja), Sakshi (Swara Bhasker) and Meera (Shikha Talsania) have been friends since childhood. As Kalindi decides to get married, her three friends get together for her wedding. While Meera is dealing with the change in the husband-wife dynamic after the arrival of a child, Sakshi is grappling with a broken marriage. Avni does want to get married but cannot seem to find the right man for her. The wedding festivities hit a roadblock when Kalindi develops cold feet and decides to call off the marriage.

One question that I wanted to ask writers Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri and director Shashanka Ghosh is that why were they in a hurry. Adding a few minutes to the film’s runtime of it helps in explaining a few things better or heightens the drama to a greater extent, would not have been a bad thing at all. One feels that strongly particularly in the first thirty minutes and last twenty minutes of the film. Too many things happen at a rapid pace and you wish the writers and the director had cared to delve deeper into the events happening in the lives of these four women, which in turn would have enabled the audience to feel more connected to them. Despite the fact that the film skims over several pertinent events and the major conflict appears to be contrived and forced, it gives you enough reason to smile and cheer, particularly in those moments when the four ladies are together. Their playful banter, the clever dialogues and some refreshing scenes do not make this film a tiring watch despite all its shortcomings. The production value is easy on the eyes and the gloss adds to the joie-de-vivre feel of the film.

Kareena Kapoor Khan looks breathtakingly gorgeous and delivers a wonderful performance. She gets the most well fleshed out character and she makes the most of the opportunity. Sonam Kapoor Ahuja slips into the character of the slightly snooty but upright South Delhi woman effortlessly. Shikha, the character played by Swara Bhasker, comes across as caricature-ish at times, but she does well as a performer. Shikha Talsania is a very fine talent and deserves to be seen in more films. Sumeet Vyas reminds one of the character he played he played in the digital show ‘Permanent Roommates’ as his character in the film seem to have similarities to that one.

‘Veere Di Wedding’ should have conjured up more dramatic moments in the narrative but it is a fun and harmless film that definitely deserves a watch.