Bhubaneswar: The film Veere Di Wedding, a comedy film directed by Shashanka Ghosh, hit in theaters across India June 1. On the opening day, the film earned a whooping of Rs 10.70 crore breaking the record for the highest opening day collection for any Hindi film with female protagonist(s).
Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sonam Kapoor’s Veere Di Wedding has beaten two popular films — Akshay Kumar’s Pad Man and Ajay Devgn’s crime drama Raid as highest opener film. It secured third position this year, after Baaghi2 (Rs 25.10 crore) and Padmaavat (Rs 19 cr) in the opening day.
The film’s plot revolves around four childhood friends— Kalindi (Kareena Kapoor), Avni (Sonam Kapoor), Meera (ShikhaTalsania) & Sakshi (Swara Bhaskar). The film is set in New Delhi, where the girls are born and brought up, their trials and tribulations in modern day world vis-à-vis family acceptance, marriage and societal perceptions.
Though the film has collected a good amount at the box office on its opening day, it failed to please most audiences. In Bhubaneswar, the film garnered mix reviews from the audience.
Sasmita Mohanty, a lecturer in a city-based institution said, “This film is a truly skewed vision of feminism by director Shashanka Ghosh. Even the plushest women do not use the excuse of women’s empowerment to shield a dissolute and promiscuous lifestyle. It portrays women’s empowerment in a wrong and shallow light.”
Muskan Sharma, a student of RD Women’s University here, enjoyed the film, but expected more from it. The four childhood friends have different stories, but they all let go of inhibition and enjoy full on. Their enjoyment rubbed over me. In my opinion, this movie is all about friendship goals, but it does not send any social message.”
Yash Sunil Sharma, another student, confessed that he set out to watch Veere Di Wedding with some trepidation. Yash said, “Honestly, I’m exhausted by the parade of so called “women-centric” Hindi films in recent times by directors who do not understand or care a fig about women. When feminism is just a fad and hit formula for you and not a conviction, it is obvious that films like ‘Akira’ will be churned out. However, this film is none of that. It’s about real relatable women.”
Niharika Das, who went to the theatre expecting to watch a film on women’s empowerment, criticized the film severely. She said, “Women’s empowerment doesn’t mean sex, drinks and abusive language. Films on women’s empowerment should inspired women to work hard, earn their living, gain name and fame, live a respectful life and teach them to be self-dependent.”
Meanwhile, Biswanath Nayak, a journalism student, described Veere Di Wedding as a good concept badly executed. Nayak also suggested movie goers to re-watch Pink and Piku instead of spending money on Veere Di Wedding.