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Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga movie review: Sonam Kapoor – Rajkummar Rao’s film is an unconventional love story set in a quintessential Bollywood backdrop

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga movie review: Sonam K Ahuja, Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla are impressive, but it is Rajkummar Rao who steals the show

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2019 has begun with experimental cinema and I being a cinema-lover love it. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is a film that shows how much taboo homosexuality still is for a traditional Indian family and their mindset towards it. It is a brave concept picked up by director Shelly Chopra Dhar for her debut film, but misses on some aspects.

What’s it about? Written by Gazal Dhaliwal and Shelly Chopra Dhar, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga deals with the concept of LGBT, where the lead character of the film is a lesbian and is still in the closet. It takes a friend (Rajkummar Rao) to make her realise that she is normal and she no more needs to be chained. Then how her family reacts? Whether they accept her or not is the story of the film. The film starts with a wedding where everyone is desperate to get Sweety (Sonam) married. The mandap seems to be like a matrimony site in real where everyone is literally window-shopping for guys and girls – to an extent where a supporting actor even says,“Shadiyon mein hi to dulhe milte hai.”

But Sonam is not ready to get married and there is a secret about her that only she and her brother know. And the brother is clearly not happy about it. He follows her everywhere just to keep an eye on her. Meanwhile she meets a young struggling playwriter Sahil (Rajkummar), who instantly falls in love with her and starts looking at her as his inspiration. After a misunderstanding, Rajkummar gets into the family and just before the interval Sweety reveals to him that she is a lesbian and her girlfriend stays in London. Heartbroken Sahil pledges to help Sweety and makes her realise that having different sexual orientation is normal. How he plots a plan to make Sweety’s family accept her, well that is the second half.

Yay: Shelly proves that she is Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s sister with her writing. Like her brother, she builds up a world where every character has a storyline and definition. Not just the leads, but even the supporting cast – Seema Pahwa as the maid who bids on everything possible, even on who will marry Sweety. They have a space to breath in the screenplay. One more thing she gets right is showing the different mindsets. In a scene Sweety’s brother played by Abhishek Duhan denotes homosexuality as a disease. He tells Sweety,“Ki teri bimari tu thik kyun nahin kar sakti.” Sweety’s grandmother when narrated a lesbian screenplay of a play says that it is a great comedy and people will enjoy laughing.

As writers, both Gazal and Shelly get plus points. If you have seen the Hollywood film Call Me By Your Name, wherein by the end the father admits in front of his son that he also had dreams and secrets that he had to bury for the sake of society and family. Here Anil is given a similar trail, he loves cooking and had a goal of becoming a chef, but his mother doesn’t allow him as cooking is not something boys are supposed to do. Acting-wise the performances are quite good. Sonam plays the mysterious part and one who is scared of her own identity impressively. Anil has a style of his own and it is visible here whether you like it or not. Juhi Chawla after a long time is the cutest character here. Regina Cassandra as the love-interest of Sonam doesn’t get much to do but is good. Rajkummar is well Rajkummar, and he steals the show.

Nay: Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is set right and the tonality is perfect, but what misses is the depth of the main character, Sonam falls a bit short in portraying the emotion right. The execution should have been a bit bolder.There is a flashback of how Sonam and Regina fall in love, but that isn’t enough. I expected them to show more, let the story grow on the audience. It’s Punjab, use the farms and the landscapes. But then I will have to go with what director’s vision is. While touching all other issues the main one gets a bit blurry.

Cine Blitz Verdict: All in all, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is a good step in terms of normalising LGBT in mainstream cinema. Watch it for how an unconventional story can be set in a mainstream Bollywood story. Though I wanted to see a few more things, but I won’t complain because Rajkummar Rao compensated for them.

Rating: 2.5 stars

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