Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga # Movie Review # Love is Universal # Love knows no Boundaries

The new rendition of the song “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga” creates a sense of nostalgia and seems to take you 15-20 years back when both love and life had a distinct simplicity. The millennial generation has grown up crooning the above-mentioned melodious song from the movie ‘1942: A Love Story’ sung by Kumar Sanu.

Similar to the movie “1942: A Love Story,” “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga (ELKDTAL)” is also a love story at its heart. However, it’s not between the hero and heroine of the film. Therefore, writer-director Shelly Chopra Dhar presents her movie as an “unorthodox” love story.

The story begins at a theatre hall in Delhi where the protagonist of this film Sweety (Sonam Kapoor Ahuja) meets the playwright Sahil Mirza (Rajkumar Rao). Sahil Mirza is smitten by Sweety the moment he sees her for the first time. The story moves forwards to a village of Punjab called ‘Moga,’ and the stage is set for a typical Bollywood romantic film. The director of the movie conveniently misleads you throughout the first half of the movie. However, the twist comes merely at the end of the first half. As an audience, you instantly realize that the portions of the movie shown in the first half were actually a build-up for the second half. It is exactly at this moment that the story unfolds itself and reveals its true essence. You can now relate why the makers of this movie called it a UNORTHODOX love story.

PG Wodehouse’s novel “A Damsel in Distress” seems to have inspired both Shelly Chopra Dhar and Gazal Dhaliwal (co-writer of this film) while penning down the story of this film. The movie dares to touch upon an extremely sensitive topic of same-sex love, and the director of the movie has handled this issue with a sense of responsibility and maturity. ELKDTAL is a new-age film and it undoubtedly voices a silent support to the Supreme Court’s historic judgment of decriminalizing homosexuality.

The film highlights the current situation of LGBT community in India where homosexuality is commonly annotated as being a perversion or sickness (bimari). The movie prompts pertinent questions about our society’s mentality towards the concept of homosexuality. Nevertheless, the makers of the film have tried presenting the sensitive topic with grace which ensures that the audience does not feel awkward or embarrassed while watching the movie.

The cast and crew of the film did complete justice to their respective roles. Sonam Kapoor Ahuja took the risk of portraying the protagonist of this film, and her efforts are quite commendable. However, in some scenes, Sweety’s emotional distress could have been depicted in a better manner way by Sonam. Anil Kapoor (Balbir Chaudhary) executed a fabulous job in this movie as the father of Sweety. The various shades of Balbir were portrayed brilliantly by the veteran actor.

Rajkumar Rao (didn’t we love his performance in ALIGARH?) has created his own space in Bollywood by selecting an array of socially-relevant movies, and his acting was almost flawless like most of his other films. The acting of other supporting actors like Madhumalti Kapoor, Abhishek Duhan (Sweety’s brother Babloo), Regina Cassandra (Kuhu), Seema Pahwa (Billauri), and Brijendra Kala (Chaubey) was superb in the film. Conversations between Juhi Chawla (Chatro) and Anil Kapoor are definitely one of the most pleasing things to watch out in the movie.

In India, the acceptance of same-sex love, nevertheless, seems a distant reality. The society is yet unhabituated to this concept. The movie tries to depict the emotional conflict experienced by the LGBT community, especially when the society does not support their endeavors. There have been a few same-sex love stories in Bollywood; however, most of those films focused on the gay relationships. This film explores the theme of lesbianism, albeit in a subtle way (unlike lesbianism portrayed in the movie ‘Fire’ that had released in the year 1996).

The songs of the film could have been better. The title track of the film sung by Darshan Raval is a saving grace as far as songs are concerned. The running time of the film is 2 hours and 1 minute (There is no point in this film where the audience will feel that it is stretched in any part).

Verdict: The film 'Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga’ will certainly bring some fresh air for the people of the LGBT community. The mentality of the society towards the same-sex relationships would (hopefully) change a little after this film. The movie shines in parts. You could give it a benefit of doubt and consider watching it in the theatre for its unique content.

Our Rating: 3/5

P.S.: We did not reveal the entire secret. You still don’t know who plays Sweety’s love interest in the film. Watch the movie to uncover the secret.