Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana


Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana is a 2017 Indian Hindi romantic drama film directed by Ratnaa Sinha. The film casts Rajkummar Rao as an IAS Officer and Kriti Kharbanda as a PCS Officer, who are brought together by a marriage proposal and fall in love with each other but on the night of their marriage, destiny takes the two of them in two different directions. The film had a worldwide release on 10 November 2017.

Plot

Aarti Shukla an intelligent girl, meets Satyendra Mishra, a clerk in the Excise Department, on her parents persistence who are trying to fix an arranged marriage for her. Aarti tells Satyendra that she expects to be allowed to work if they wed, and Satyendra assures her that it would be beneficial if she did because of her education. Aarti finds Satyendra's off-traditional views charming, while Satyendra is mesmerized by Aarti's beauty. Satyendra and Aarti decide to move forward and both of them fall in love with each other. On the night of marriage, Aarti comes to know that she has cleared the PCS Exam by her best friend Neelam, but her sister warns her that if she gets married, her in-laws won't let her pursue the career dreams that she has. On her sister's and maternal uncle's provocation, Aarti decides to run-away from her house without informing Satyendra or his family, who is shocked to know about the incident and is left heartbroken. During the end, a fight erupts as her uncle forces Satyendra's family to return dowry money. Even though they've spent a lot of the money, Satyendra agrees to pay back which leaves his family to undergo hard times with loss of face in the society, and his mother being forced selling all her jewelry to repay money to Aarti's family.
Five years later, Aarti who is now a PCS Officer is successfully moving up in her career. She even helps her best friend Neelam to get a job in the same office. But all that is changed when Aarti is accused of taking a bribe and suspended till her case is resolved. During the investigation Aarti comes to know that the officer in charge of her case is Satyendra Mishra, who has now become an IAS Officer. Aarti is shocked to find out the changed attitude and lack of sympathy he has for her. He leads a raid on her house and as a result, her sister advises her to visit Satyendra and apologize. As she attempts to apologize, Satyendra belittles her apology and says that this trial is personal because he will never forget the disgrace that she caused and hates her.
Throughout the investigation process, the evidence Satyendra finds leans towards Aarti taking a bribe. Satyendra makes the situation worse for Aarti by humiliating and questioning Aarti's motivates, to which she finally breaks down and confronts him privately. They both engage in an intense argument, to which Aarti finally admits defeat and says she can't take it anymore. Satyendra also calms down and they both have a more toned down short discussion. The conversation diverges turn when Satyendra asks Aarti for sexually favors for her freedom. Appalled at Satyendra's behavior, Aarti leaves. But Satyendra gives her another option and asks for the bribe, but Aarti confirms she doesn't have it. Aarti goes to Kukreja the builder who is also Neelam's husband to ask him for the bribe money, but he tells her that he did not take anything and that everyone already knows she does. The conversation that they have was actually being recorded and as Satyendra watches it, he orders that Aarti be arrested for trying to manipulate the investigation. Aarthi and her family are humiliated by the experience. As Satyendra visits her in jail, Aarti says to him that she wishes that they've never met, to which Satyendra reacts silently with shame by lowering his head.
During the trial, Satyendra replays the video that was recorded of Aarti and Kukreja, which continues to play after Aarthi leaves the compound. It is revealed in the video that there was a plot between Neelam and Kukreja to kill Aarti because of the drama that Satyendra and Aarti were causing for them. It is revealed by Satyendra's explanation of the video that Kukreja, Neelam, and the broker Rakesh were friends and that they've been selling unused government land to businesses under Aarti's name. They were able to because of Neelam misusing Aarti's trust and by getting papers signed in her ignorance. As the trial ends, Aarti is found to be innocent and Kukreja, Neelam, and the broker Rakesh are arrested. Aarti is shocked to find out that Satyendra saved her life by sending her to prison and also saved her from jail time by revealing the truth.
Aarti knows Satyendra still loves her and later tries her best to make amends to marry him, but to no avail. A few months later, Aarti is shown marrying Sharad and Satyendra's family is also invited. On the day of the wedding, Satyendra realizes his love for Aarti and gate-crashes into her wedding. It is revealed that Sharad is her brother-in-law and that the wedding was only a drama planned by both the families to make Satyendra realize his true feelings. The movie ends with Aarti and Satyendra's marriage.

Cast

Development

In February 2017, producer Vinod Bachchan made the official announcement about his film Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana with Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Kharbanda in lead roles. For the role of Aarti Shukla, the first choice of filmmaker Ratna Sinha was Taapsee Pannu who had reportedly came on board to do the film but later on decided against doing so citing lack of dates. The second choice of Ratna Sinha was Katrina Kaif, the third was Ileana D’Cruz, and the fourth was Kriti Kharbanda.

Filming

The principal photography of Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana began in March 2017 in Allahabad. The scenes that were included in the movie was that of ' Hanuman mandir in civil lines of allahabad, LORD CURZON BRIDGE '' near NAINI and beautiful sights of Sangam side. Following which there was a 30 day schedule in Lucknow while the final schedule of the film took place in Kanpur. Some famous scenes of Lucknow include the Ambedkar Memorial park, and Lucknow Casting done by Vivek Yadav.A set worth 2 crore was created in Lucknow by art director Arup Adhikari, set designer Shabiul Haasan and their team to film a wedding sequence that formed the climax of the film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album of Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana comprises 11 songs composed by Arko Pravo Mukherjee, Kaushik-Akash-Guddu For JAM8, Zain-Sam-Raees, Anand Raaj Anand and Rashid Khan while the lyrics were written by Kumaar, Shakeel Azmi, Gaurav Krishna Bansal, Arko and Kunal Verma.
Vipin Nair of The Hindu in his review said that the soundtrack is "entirely missable" and gave it a rating of 2.5/5.

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana has an approval score of 25% based on 8 reviews with an average rating of 4.8 out of 10. The movie received a mixed response from the critics. Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India praised the acting performances of Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Kharbanda but criticized the implausible and overstretched storyline of the film and gave it a rating of 3 out of 5. Sweta Kausal of Hindustan Times was critical of the clichés used in the film and found the songs to be obstructive to the plot, but was impressed with the acting performances of all actors and gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 calling it "an entertainer." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV criticized the film for its ambiguous stand on the social issues that it touches upon throughout its duration and gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express found the movie to be too loud but was impressed with the acting performances of Rajkummar Rao and Nayani Dixit and gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5. Udita Jhunjhunwala of First Post was critical of the improbable circumstances shown in the second half of the film and found the story to be very similar to Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Bareilly Ki Barfi. While Udita did praise the acting performance of Rajkummar Rao, she felt that it wasn't enough to save the film and gave it a rating of 2.5 out of 5.
Namrata Joshi of The Hindu was impressed with the acting performances of all actors but criticized the implausible revenge story that the film becomes in its second half. Urvi Parikh of Rediff was critical of the weak storyline of the film and its slow pacing. The critic gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5. Bollywood Hungama praised the concept of the film but criticized its uninspired execution and gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5. The website appreciated the acting performance of Rajkummar Rao but was critical of the writers for their confused presentation of his character. Kriti Tulsiani of News18 praised the acting performances of all actors but criticized the poorly written script which she felt was not just unreasonable but also out-dated. Kriti gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5. Rachit Gupta of Filmfare applauded the makers for taking up issues that are very relevant to our society but was critical of the way they were handled. Rachit felt that the film suffers a lot from the usage of outdated clichés and too much melodrama and gave it a rating of 2.5 out of 5. Meena Iyer of DNA India praised the acting performance of Rajkummar Rao but felt that the film lacked conviction and could not tap its entire potential. Meena gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5.

Awards and nominations

AwardDate of CeremonyCategoryRecipient and nomineeResult
Zee Cine Awards19 December 2017Best Female Playback SingerJyotica Tangri
Mirchi Music Awards28 January 2018Upcoming Male Vocalist of The YearAsit Tripathy