Veere Di Wedding just had the fifth highest grossing opening weekend for a Bollywood movie this year! The movie collected Rs 36.52 crore in just three days, with an opening day collection of Rs 10.70 crore, which is more than decent for a film that celebrates girl power over brawn power! Veere Di Wedding's success also break the myth that you need a leading man with a formidable box office presence to sell the movie, something even Alia Bhatt's Raazi also managed to do earlier this year!

Veere Di Wedding, that stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Swara Bhasker and debutante Shikha Talsania, was bound to grab eyeballs when it was to release. But no one expected it do such a roaring business, with no signs of slowing down. Even the trade pundits, who had predicted an opening day business for the movie at around Rs 4-5 crore, were shocked to see that it earned double than that on day 1. And over the weekend, Veere Di Wedding managed to do consistent business. So what clicked for the movie?

Here are, what we feel, the five factors that worked in the favour of Veere Di Wedding at the box office!

The Casting

Ever since the casting of the movie was announced, Veere Di Wedding has been in the news for all the right reasons. For one, it marks the comeback of Kareena Kapoor Khan on the big screen, after the hiatus of two years, during which she had embraced motherhood. This is also the first time she is working with Sonam Kapoor, another star with a huge fan following. Sonam had given a decent hit with director Shashanka Ghosh in Khoobsurat. Then there is Swara Bhasker, whose online presence (on top of her acting prowess) is unmissable. So casting-wise, Veere Di Wedding has already earned a winner!

The trailer

The trailer invoked two important reactions -  you either loved it or absolutely hated it! Whatever your reaction was to the first expletive-laden promo of the movie, one thing you can't deny is that it has managed to catch your attention, the same way Aamir Khan did with his production, Delhi Belly a few years back. The first impression may not be a holy one, but it is definitely an eye-catching one!

The promotional campaign

From labelling their movie as 'Not a chick flick' to the actresses standing up against rapes (more on this later), Veere Di Wedding has managed to grab the attention from time to time. Even without the controversies, the movie won over the fans with its pleasing promos and songs, with Tareefan and the title track still ruling the charts. All the four leads also made sure they relentlessly campaigned for the movie till its release date. Also this might not be a promotional tactic, but Sonam's real-life wedding also managed to help in getting the movie more publicity!

A good-looking movie with a short runtime

Talking about the movie itself, Veere Di Wedding has its share of problems of being plastic and being burdened with a flawed narrative. But the movie is breezy, has some amusing moments and the girl gang share an amazing chemistry. Even the 'outrageous' moments don't feel that they are added purely for the shock-factor. Above all, Veere Di Wedding's runtime is just around two hours, which is quite bearable for an entertainer. This was something that totally went against the other release of the week, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero (two and a half hours runtime!).

The hate campaign

...in other words, the Padmaavat effect!

The lead actresses, Kareena, Sonam and Swara, had gained a fair amount of hate for their campaign against the Kathua and Unnao rapes. Swara Bhasker herself has gained a considerable amount of haters for her outspoken attitude.  While their admirers lauded the campaign, the right wing followers felt their stance was an insult to Hindu ideologies and started a counter-campaign asking for people to boycott the movie. Needless to say, the ploy didn't work for the haters, and the viewers marched into the theatres to see what the fuss was all about. Even the 'grandmother was embarrassed' campaign didn't dent its box office run. After all, any publicity is always welcome publicity!

Next time, dear trollers, if you really want people to boycott a movie, just ignore it in silence.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 04, 2018 04:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).