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Movie Review: Veere Di Wedding

Girls just wanna have fun

One is commitment-phobic, one drinks like a whale and smokes whenever she can, another has married a man of her choice (read firang) and yet another is single, empowered and yet desperate to get married.

Girls just wanna have fun

A still from Veere Di Wedding



Nonika Singh

One is commitment-phobic, one drinks like a whale and smokes whenever she can, another has married a man of her choice (read firang) and yet another is single, empowered and yet desperate to get married. It takes all sorts to make the world and friends.

Welcome the girlie gang of the 21st century who call each other ‘veere’ which by the way in Punjabi is otherwise how a brother is addressed and also gender neutral in some parts of the state. Is the director trying to tell us something here...  some gender underpinning perhaps? We can't be sure of the loftier ambitions of the female buddy-hood. But what we are sure of is that the film, basically about bonhomie between four girl friends, is a breeze.

Na, nah… the film is not trying to redefine feminism or women’s liberation or holding a torch for their rights. Just as men will be men…well, women too are women. So, they too can be themselves. Unabashed and irreverent and yet bogged down while trying to balance their lives with societal demands of shaadi, bacche and relationships. Or, as Sonam as Avni, a divorce lawyer, says; Mujhe sab chahiye - men, too, most certainly. 

Once school chums, this frolicsome foursome gets back to rejoice at Kalindi Puri’s (Kareena Kapoor) wedding. Since she is product of a bickering home, she finds it difficult to tie the knot, especially since the marriage of a Malhotra boy can only be a big fat Indian wedding aka tamasha. How she develops cold feet, what are the issues her other friends are facing... none of it is a revelation really. Nor is this les miserables, no elephant in the room really. Just regular concerns modern women face or create. And, yes, all of these can be resolved and they do get sorted with ‘all is well that ends well’ simplicity.

If Zoya Akhtar introduced us to bromance in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, here it’s a male director Shashanka Ghosh’s peep into women's lives. By all means, it shifts into their bedrooms too. 

Sex is not just three-letter word here; but a key one peppering their conversations and discussed upfront without any qualms. The sexed-up scene, actually one in particular, involving Swara Bhaskar (the boldest of them all) is loaded for shock value.  Women’s sexuality anyway has been out of the closet for a while and Veere Di… only adds to the compendium. 

Actually, Veere Di is exactly what its trailer promises it to be; fun and funny to be precise. And rest assured, fun moments are more than what you get to see in the promos. Unadulterated frolic, however, comes with an adult certificate and rightly so for this is no family viewing for sure. Though families in the film come in as many shapes, sizes and sexualities (there is a same sex couple too), as the gals themselves and can even laugh off the horny details of their daughter’s intimate life. To the puritans and the sanskari, this bit and a few more may seem corny. But a lot especially, the crackling chemistry between the gals is genuine. Indeed, mouthing swear words and sharing adult-rated details is not the only bonding glue here. And lest in the crowd of women we forget the Ranjha oops Rishab Malhotra. Sumeet Vyas is earnest and doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb in a film that belongs essentially to the actresses, all of whom are in good form. Kareena is luminous, Sonam looks the fashion diva, Swara is bold and brazen and oh so convincing is plus size Shikha Talsania as super-rich Meera.

Despite the sugar sweet tone and frothy tenor the film too is both believable and relatable. And at less than two hours, even in not so credible parts it is simply enjoyable. Girls wanna have fun and you can get your share too, provided you drop the chinks in your armour.

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