Veere Di Wedding: Kareena Kapoor Khan effortlessly anchors this flawed but fun film

Veere Di Wedding is an easy film to dismiss. Some want to dismiss it because its actors — Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor and Swara Bhaskar — held up placards that they found offensive. Others dismiss it because, they say, ‘showing women behaving like men is not feminism’. Here’s what I’d say to them: Wait, don’t dismiss Veere Di Wedding completely just yet.

A still from Veere Di Wedding. Image from Twitter/@taranadarsh

For here’s the central takeaway from Shashanka Ghosh’s Veere Di Wedding — accept people for who they are. There’s four odd-in-their-own-way lead women with their own stories; plus an unusual gay couple with family issues; a nagging mother to a single woman; and even a ‘firang’ son-in-law who’s yet to be ‘accepted’, among a bunch of other madcap characters, all seeking acceptance and validation in their own way. All of them are stereotypes, and the film makes sure every single one of them receives their validation in some measure by the end.

That, unfortunately, is also where the film suffers. Amid all those good intentions for all those characters, you end up with a runny khichdi of sorts, one that tastes decent, but doesn’t hit the spot with every bite.

It is messily written, and the performances, save for Kareena Kapoor Khan (who is effortlessly badass), largely range from ‘spunky but strictly average’ (Swara Bhaskar) to ‘often struggles’ (Sonam K Ahuja, as she now goes). Sumeet Vyas may win a few fans among those who haven’t already seen him do this and better in his work with TVF, but that’s about it. (Oh, and Shikha Talsania is a hoot.)

Despite its scrambling, unfocused plot and some not-so-great acting, Veere Di Wedding is propped up by its moments. The casual, understated Andaz Apna Apna reference; or the stereotypical Delhi wedding that nonetheless calls it like it is; or even the drunken banter between friends in their late 20s when one of them is about to get married. Apart from the good intentions mentioned earlier, it’s moments you’ll encounter in these situations that make the film breezy.

Though outnumbered by the fun moments, the hammy moments stick out as well. You’ll groan at least a few times at the clichés, or some poorly written scenes or even just the way you find the film trying too hard to convey what it wants. (If nothing else, the product placements will exhaust you at some point. Sure, for a film like this in a market that still asks ‘who’s the hero’, it’s probably an unavoidable commercial consideration; but when it jars, it jars.)

It’s strange that filmmakers take some risk when mounting a film like Veere Di Wedding, and then don’t back it with sensible writing all the way through, trusting the audience to understand a modicum of nuance and subtlety.

Then again, here’s the thing. It would be possible to make the exact same film with four men in the lead instead, and that would have aced at the box office. Look no further than Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety - a film in the same space, with a similar tone, but one that’s overall significantly inferior. If *that* film found a vast audience, then Veere Di Wedding surely doesn’t deserve to be dismissed outright. It’s a flawed-but-fun film about relationships, so there’s a chance you’d be willing to invest in it.

This is a first impression of Veere Di Wedding. Read Anna Vetticad's movie review here.