Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana

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.^[8] Filmmaker Ratnaa Sinha, wife of Anubhav Sinha marked her directorial debut with the film.^[9]

Casting

The film starred Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Kharbanda in their first collaboration.

Rajkummar Rao was cast to play the lead, Satyendra Mishra, and was director Sinha's first choice. Rao added, "My character has a journey that travels the phase from a small town guy falling in love with a girl to becoming a successful, rich guy. It is a revenge story and how love makes you do things that you cannot do otherwise."^[10][11]

Kriti Kharbanda was cast to play Aarti Shukla, the other lead. Kharbanda stated "script" as the reason behind choosing the film and added, "Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana is my most passionate project till date. I feel nothing but love for the characters of this film altogether."^[12][13] For the role of Aarti, the first choice of 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.^[14]

K. K. Raina and Alka Amin were cast to play Satyendra's parents. Govind Namdev and Navni Parihar were cast to play Aarti's parents.^[15] Nayani Dixit played Aarti's sister, Vipin Sharma and Manoj Pahwa were cast as Satyendra and Aarti's uncle respectively.^[16]

Filming

The principal photography of Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana began in March 2017 in Allahabad.^[17] A major portion of the film was shot at Hanuman Mandir, Civil Lines, Lord Curzon Bridge and the Triveni Sangam. Following this, there was a 30-day schedule in Lucknow, including at Ambedkar Memorial Park. The final schedule of the film took place in Kanpur. A set worth ₹20 million was created in Lucknow by art director Arup Adhikari, Casting Director Vivek Yadav (Casting Director) set designer Shabiul Haasan and their team to film the wedding sequence that formed the climax.^[18][19]

Critical reception

Bollywood Hungama gave the album 3 out of 5 stars and noted in its music review that, "What works for the music of Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana is the fact that there is a constant 'sur' right through its playing time which doesn't cause a distraction. The sound is uniform and helps the album to play on well through its duration."^[25] Vipin Nair of The Hindu in his review said that the soundtrack is "entirely missable" and gave it a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars.^[26]

Critical response

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.^[32] Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 and noted, "Rajkummar’s transformation is impressive and Kriti effortlessly essays her role. All other character actors are a treat to watch. The film, however, leans too much on clichés. Songs are abrupt and obstruct the narrative. The filmmakers have also relied heavily on melodrama but despite these minor hiccups, this is an invitation you must not miss."^[33] Urvi Parikh of Rediff.com 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.^[34]

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.^[35] 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, and gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5.^[36] 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 [cliché]s and too much [melodrama] and gave it a rating of 2.5 out of 5.^[37] 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.^[38]

Box office

Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana collected ₹50 lakhs on its first date. In its first week, it collected ₹6.35 crore.^[39] By the end of its theatrical run, the film collected approximately ₹19.4 crore and became an "average grosser" at the box office.^[40][41]