Veere Di Wedding
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Four Delhi friends, a wedding, and a masturbation scene that got Swara Bhasker trolled for a year.
Kalindi, Avni, Sakshi and Meera have been inseparable since they were schoolgirls in Delhi. Kalindi now lives in Australia with her boyfriend, Rishabh; wary of marriage since her parents' constant fights, her mother's death and her father's quick remarriage, she accepts his proposal for his sake. Avni is a divorce lawyer whose mother keeps lining up suitors. Sakshi has come back from London to her parents' house in the middle of an ugly divorce, drinking and smoking, and will not say why the marriage ended. Meera married an American, John, against her Sikh father's wishes, has had a son and has not spoken to her father since.
The wedding brings all four together in Delhi, where Kalindi stays with her uncle, Kuki, and his boyfriend. Rishabh's loving family overwhelm her with rituals and plans for an enormous wedding. At the engagement party everything goes wrong. A prospective groom walks out on Avni after she tries to kiss him, and she drunkenly sleeps with Rishabh's cousin Bhandari. Gossiping aunties drive Sakshi away. When Rishabh snaps that Kalindi has no proper family, she walks out of her own engagement. The next day they make up, and call off the wedding amicably.
Sakshi takes the four of them to Thailand, where the secrets come out. Her husband walked in on her with a vibrator and demanded a divorce, telling everyone she had cheated. Meera has not slept with John since the baby was born. Back home, each faces her family. Sakshi tells her parents the truth and they stand by her. Meera and John make up, and her father comes to meet the grandson who carries his name. Avni tells her mother she is finished with arranged matches, and agrees to a date with Bhandari. The friends make Kalindi's father and uncle end their feud, and the brothers give her the family house. Kalindi proposes to Rishabh, and they marry in that house with her friends beside her.
Starring
Kareena Kapoor Khanas Kalindi Puri
The bride, raised in a home full of fights, who agrees to marry the man she loves and then panics at what marriage asks.
Kalindi Puri’s story
Kalindi grew up in the house where the four friends gathered as girls, with parents who fought constantly; months after her mother died her father remarried, and she left for Australia. There Rishabh proposes, and though marriage means little to her, she says yes for his sake. In Delhi she stays with her uncle Kuki and his partner, and Rishabh's warm family overwhelm her with rituals and plans for a thousand guests. When Rishabh says at the engagement that she has no family, she walks out, and the next day she calls the wedding off. After Thailand her friends force her father and uncle to make peace, her father tells her he and her mother loved each other in their way, and the brothers give her the family house. She proposes to Rishabh, and they marry there.
Sonam Kapooras Avni Sharma
A divorce lawyer pushed by her mother towards arranged marriage, who decides she would rather be single on her own terms.
Avni Sharma’s story
Avni spends her days on other people's divorces while her mother, Kavita, lines up suitors for her. At school she was sure her boyfriend was the one; the boss she was seeing until recently turned out to be married. She meets a suitor from a matrimonial site, a proper lawyer who wants a prenuptial agreement, and when she tries to kiss him, he walks out with an insult. Angry and drunk, she sleeps with Rishabh's brash cousin Bhandari, and they are caught. In Thailand she admits she still wants to marry the right man. Back home she tells her mother she is finished with arranged matches, and when Bhandari gets her number from Kavita, she agrees to a date.
Swara Bhaskeras Sakshi Soni
The rebel of the group, back with her parents in the middle of a divorce she is too ashamed to explain.
Sakshi Soni’s story
At school Sakshi planned to run off to Prague; instead she married a man she hardly knew, lived in London with a husband who wanted a perfect housewife, and is now back in her parents' house in Delhi, drinking, smoking and refusing to explain. Her parents paid for a lavish wedding, and now the neighbourhood whispers that she cheated. At the engagement party the aunties' gossip drives her out. It is Sakshi who books the four of them a trip to Thailand, and there she tells the truth: after a last fight her husband came home early, found her with a vibrator, demanded a divorce and told everyone she had been unfaithful. Back home she tells her parents, who laugh and stand by her. She wins a generous settlement and makes sure the aunties hear about it.
Shikha Talsaniaas Meera Sood
Married to an American against her father's wishes, a new mother who longs to make peace with her family.
Meera Sood’s story
At school Meera was the anxious one, sure her traditional Sikh father would marry her off to someone dull. Instead she married John, an American, against her father's wishes, and has not spoken to her family since; she has not even told them about her son. John is learning Hindi for her. In Delhi for Kalindi's wedding, she is quizzed about her family's religion. In Thailand she admits that she and John have not slept together since the baby was born, because she feels insecure about her body, and her friends tell her she is beautiful. Back home she makes up with John, who calls her father. At the wedding her father arrives with a toy car for his grandson, and learns that the boy carries his name.
Sumeet Vyasas Rishabh Malhotra
Kalindi's devoted boyfriend, who wants the marriage she does not and comes from a family that loves weddings.
Neena Guptaas Kavita Sharma
Avni's mother, determined to see her successful daughter married off.
Why it matters
Veere Di Wedding is a mainstream Hindi comedy about four women who drink, swear, talk about sex and put their friendship above their marriages, and the question under its jokes is how much of herself a woman must hand over in order to marry. Many critics were unimpressed, and several called it a Delhi version of Sex and the City. Baradwaj Rangan argued that even an imperfect mainstream film was worth having if it told a large audience that it is all right for a woman to masturbate, to want sex, or not to marry. The scene of Sakshi with a vibrator drew a polarised response on social media, and in 2019 trolls were still using it against Swara Bhasker. The film was banned in Pakistan. At home it set a record for the biggest opening day of any Hindi film led by women.