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Review: Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga gently asks viewers to accept love in all its forms

Review: Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga gently asks viewers to accept love in all its forms

Does it get a little preachy? Sure. But the film deserves a watch for its attempt to address intolerance and prejudice
Updated 07 Feb, 2019

I wanted to like Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga, I really did. But if, like me, you’re looking for a powerful same-sex love story, this is not that film as thoughtful as it is.

Sonam Kapoor Ahuja plays Sweety, a mild-mannered queer girl from a small town in Punjab, who is loved immensely by her well-to-do father Balbir Chaudhry (Anil Kapoor) who aspires to be a chef but ends up running a successful garment business, an over-protective older brother and a highly-conservative grandmother.

While attempting to sneak away from home to meet her lover in Delhi, Sweety hides in a theatre where struggling playwright Sahil Mirza’s (Rajkummar Rao) new play is being rehearsed. Mirza finds himself deeply attracted to Sweety and decides to move to her town in order to woo her. When he finds out that Sweety is queer, he decides to help her come out to her family.

Rajkumar Rao as Sahil Mirza and Sonam Kapoor as Sweety
Rajkumar Rao as Sahil Mirza and Sonam Kapoor as Sweety

It is clear, then, that the film is made from the perspective of straight people and seeks to create empathy in them to respect and tolerate people who love differently. On that count, it does quite well. As a straight person myself who used to struggle with the idea that same-sex attraction is natural, the film spoke to a previous version of myself and reminded me of so many conversations I’d been a part of when I was still a mild homophobe.

This is both a strength and a weakness of the film. It is a strength because Indian (and South Asian) society is not yet at a point where a relationship like this – or even a film like this – can be treated as a given. So, it makes sense to make a movie that is digestible because it comes with plenty of teachable moments and healthy doses of melodrama. It does a good job on those moments too, without becoming overly preachy.

It is a weakness because, alas, it does end up being preachy to the point that sadly the straight characters end up taking the spotlight as saviours of the gay characters. The film also has a curious focus on small towns, as if homophobia isn’t an urban phenomenon and those living in cities do not need to be taught tolerance.

Sadly, the straight characters of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha end up taking the spotlight as saviours of the gay characters. The film also has a curious focus on small towns, as if homophobia isn’t an urban phenomenon and those living in cities do not need to be taught tolerance.

That the film is sanctimonious in places is hardly a surprise, given that the movie is produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raju Hirani – who have collaborated on many so-called message-oriented films like the Munnabhai MBBS series, 3 Idiots, and PK. (Hirani has been accused of sexual harassment and his name was removed as a producer from the movie. It is unclear if any of the earnings from the film will go to him).

Ahuja’s performance left a lot to be desired and Regina Cassandra who plays Sweety’s partner Kuhu had very little space to create an impact. The two women couldn’t create any real chemistry, resulting in an almost infantile relationship with the couple appearing more like friends than lovers. To be fair, the film was working within understandable constraints so the characters could only show attraction through holding hands but that doesn’t explain why the couple never has a real conversation that provides the audience a glimpse into why they fell in love with each other in the first place.

In fact, the scene where they first meet and are drawn to each other is very superficial, with one conversation where Kuhu tells Sweety that she used to have crushes on girls as a child. It is truly unfortunate that a film trying to shatter norms falls into the ultimate Bollywood stereotype: A meets B, they talk about love for 30 seconds, and voila intense love has happened.

Those who truly shine are Kapoor as a doting father and an obedient son, and Juhi Chawla as a divorced woman with progressive ideas and a refreshingly relentless drive to become an actor now that her kids have grown up and she’s free from a marriage she hadn’t wanted. It is a pity that the script does not give Rao, a brilliant actor, much of an opportunity to display his talent.

An unexpected thing that I loved about the film was its portrayal of Muslims, an area where Bollywood continues to struggle. Mirza does not behave or speak like he is stuck in the 1940s – there are no adabs, his Urdu isn’t impeccable, and the word janab is never used – and there’s no tokenism, in that his religion is only important insofar as his religion needs to be.

So is the film worth watching? Absolutely! If for no other reason than to support the first mainstream Bollywood movie ever to show a same-sex romance as a fact of life. Take a friend, better yet take your parents or aunts and uncles. They are more the target audience than younger folks.

Here’s hoping that stepping on to the stone laid down by Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga, more filmmakers will make movies with same-sex characters and that one of them will become a romance for the ages.

Comments

Maliha Feb 05, 2019 09:18am
I agree ...but I was so glad to finally see desi LGBTQ+ representation on a big scale ...the movie could have definitely focused more on the relationship between the girls itself but I think it wanted to gently ease open the minds of the mostly conservative audience ...also glad that there was no sexualized portrayal of the lesbian characters finally ....
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Syed irfan ali Feb 05, 2019 10:55am
What a review!!!! Definitely going to watch it with my wife but no kids.
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Adeel Murad Feb 05, 2019 11:56am
You can play ignorant and say that Gay people do not exist in Pakistan, But this movie is not preachy so do not get your religious weapons to hate on people you do not understand to accept. These people do not get up one day to be gay, its not a western social trend it exists in Asia also , They are born and they are explaining that its NOT a choice, Society will not accept it, and many religions might blast it but it exist, so deal with it!
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DELTA Feb 05, 2019 01:33pm
BTW , its not released in Pakistan
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DELTA Feb 05, 2019 01:33pm
is it going to release in Pak
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JOHNATHAN MENEZES Feb 06, 2019 01:19am
The Goan-Catholic community in Karachi are very anti-gay & this is based on their religious beliefs. If their children should find out that by birth and they have feelings for the same same, then its best they leave the country or engage of thoughts of suicide. There is no in-between acceptance of gay children . Parents are willing to sacrifice their relationship not understanding that would their children chose a life where not only society does not accept it but they can be hunted harassed and killed by people who are rampant religious zealots. Tolerance is a virtue that parents, family & friends of gay people do not inherit. How sad is that that a life can be demeaned by people who are intolerant/
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N abidai Feb 06, 2019 08:13am
The culture needs to be developed to treat others as human being! Is Pak there Yet? The uzma murder ,tells the sad reality of child labor that has been treated as normal by educated people, who used and abused millions uzma's in Pakistan! Thus, in a culture where children are not protected,others will have to wait,too!,
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Usman Salim Khan Feb 07, 2019 01:30am
Reading the comments of people on Facebook about this review is sad, astonishing and hypocritically judgmental! People who are ready to jump on judging others do not realize that they are not delegated by the Almighty to be Judge & Jury. The rampant sins we all commit is ignored as people sitting on their high horse want to demean gay people to feel superior like look at me I am normal I like the opposite sex so I will enjoy the blessings of Heaven? Look at how we treated transgender community and what did we achieve. No one has to accept other forms of life , just make sure you lead one of respect and dignity!
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