In one scene in the film, Sonam Kapoor’s Avni says, “Life mein har cheez ko itna over analyze karne ki zaroorat nahi hai.” And that is exactly what you need to keep in mind while watching Veere Di Wedding. Because more than being a film, Veere Di Wedding is a celebration – of friendship, relationships, family, enmity, hatred, and love. I had once read, “If a woman can bear the pain of giving birth to a child, she can swing a sword as well and any other man.” For me, that is Veere Di Wedding.
The story, as everyone knows, is about Kalindi’s (Kareena Kapoor Khan) wedding and how her veeres – Avni (Sonam Kapoor), Sakshi (Swara Bhaskar) and Meera (Shikha Talsania) – take her through it. But Veere Di Wedding is not so much about the wedding. It is more about human bonds, whether they’re good or bad. Each of these four women has her issues. Kalindi has a broken family, Avni is 30 and her mother cannot get over the fact that she’s married, Sakshi is on the verge of getting divorced and Meera has cut ties with her family. Each of these situations are situations that are generally not accepted by the society and the victim is treated as an outcast. Director Shashanka Ghosh and writers Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri are bold enough to not only not treat these women as separate identities but also give them the power to be unapologetically beautiful in their own skin.
Before I start talking about the very natural Kareena Kapoor Khan, the gorgeous Sonam Kapoor and the brilliance of Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania, let me take a moment to specially mention producers Rhea Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor. Hindi Cinema needs more producers like these women who have faith in scripts like Veere Di Wedding. Of course, our industry has produced many female-driven films but Veere Di Wedding is different. It takes a lot of courage to sign four women, all brilliant to say the least, in one single film, and to make sure that each one of them have equal screen space and presence. For this, I applaud Rhea and Ekta Kapoor.
Talking about the actors, the story revolves around Kareena Kapoor Khan’s Kalindi and her tryst with marriage. If you know me, you know how much a fan I am of Kareena Kapoor Khan. But since I have started reviewing films, I have kept my bias aside. So whatever I am going to say, is absolutely true, and nothing but the truth. I am more in love with this woman! I think, with every passing film, Bebo is just getting more and more natural. And she is so effortlessly brilliant. In an interview earlier, Sonam Kapoor had said that Bebo deserves a team that waits for her. The aptness and perfection with which she plays Kalindi, is perhaps the reason why Rhea Kapoor decided to push the shooting of the film by eighteen months. Kareena Kapoor Khan is a STAR!
Sonam Kapoor Ahuja plays her Avni pretty good and does full justice to her part. She plays a middle-class lawyer, with a middle-class mother, who is behind her daughter to get her married. Anvi’s grief for her mother, for her friend Kalindi and her love for every person in general, is portrayed amazingly by Sonam Kapoor Ahuja.
Shikha Talsania plays Meera, a woman who has run away from her family to marry the man she loves. Like Bebo, even Talsania is a natural! She doesn’t overdo or underdo even in one scene. What’s most brilliant about Talsania is that she is perfectly comfortable in her skin, just like Meera, and that shows.
Swara Bhaskar’s Sakshi could be my favourite character in the film. Sakshi is almost divorced, she smokes, drinks every living second, talks a lot about sex, abuses – so basically, Sakshi is the complete opposite of what an Indian woman is expected to be. Instead of making it a weakness, director Shashanka Ghosh appreciates Sakshi’s so said flaws. And Swara Bhaskar. Ab kya kahen! Like Sakshi is unapologetic of her lifestyle and leads her life as she wishes to, Bhaskar too is a very bold actor, perhaps the boldest in this film. There were moments in the film when Bhaskar and Bebo were together on screen and I was rooting for Bhaskar. Coming from me, a lunatic Bebo fan, this really means a lot!
My favourite part about this film is that it lets you BE! Whether you’re an alcoholic, or a sex addict or someone who has run away from her wedding, just be! Appreciate yourself, however you are, and do it very unapologetically.
At heart, Veere Di Wedding is also a film about appreciating family. In one scene, Kalindi says that no family is easy. Each family has shortcomings of its own but at the end of the day, each family is a family.
All in all, Veere Di Wedding is a must watch! This is a film that breaks all barriers, steps forward to begin a revolution and ends up setting a benchmark for women in cinema and Hindi Cinema in general. This is a film you must show to your families because whether you’re a man or a woman, you definitely are one of the four Veeres. So from today, start appreciating yourself, and don’t let your flaws hold you back!
Bombay Balloon 