By Bhavya Arora

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga, the LGBTQ themed movie starring Sonam Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, and Juhi Chawla got a lot of attention.

This was mostly due to the lesbian main character that Sonam portrayed, but let me tell you my experience of watching this movie.

So, I knew the story line but several other people in the audience didn’t, not even my mother. Before the Interval, everyone was confused. But just before the Interval, the storyline fell into place and honestly, a whiff of disappointment rang through the auditorium.

Believe me, I could tell by the sad-prolonged “Arreee!…” from someone in the back and another, “Oye hoye! Eh kii? (Oh no! What’s this?)”

While these two reactions were sad, even sadder was the common laughter of others, which only irritated me to the core. My mom turned to me and asked, “Do you want to go to Marks and Spencer?”

Just like her, many peoples’ faces suggested that they were reconsidering spending another hour or so watching this movie that had led them down or go burn some cash at the food court or the various lifestyle stores.

All these Punjabi families had come to the theatre expecting it to be a quintessential Punjabi life-is-all-about-eating-and-dancing-and-families movie, having a big fat wedding with, of course, a love story on the side. And actually, it was exactly that, but for the first time, with a more important purpose to fulfill.

Well, the interval ended and our neighbor Sardar ji, who ordered hot coffee during the interval and got confused when the girl at the counter gave him Cappuccino, was nowhere to be seen.

I wondered if my mom considered him lucky to not have a daughter who won’t let her go to BIBA instead, from the look on her face. Anyway, I was too excited to see how the movie unravels and sip my cold coffee alongside.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga

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Personally, I cannot stand such ‘all about happiness and celebrations’ movies in which half of the characters have no purpose in life (mostly portrayed as women).

But this one, though laced with over-acting, had me in tears of both happiness and sadness (and I regretted not saving my coffee to help me with this) at various points with various dialogues, and when that happens, I find it safe to call that a ‘good movie’.

One of the best things about the movie was that it didn’t just touch the cause and leave it there, it devoted half of its time trying to actually change the rigid opinion of its audience in ways they understand best.

Also, it reflected on the gender rules that men are expected to conform to when Anil Kapoor’s character said, “Chef banna tha, beeji ne banne nahi diya.”

And after this, I had decided that a happy ending would be him becoming a chef along with, of course, the girls getting together and I got my happy ending.

All in all, I was satisfied with the movie and can spare few technical mistakes for the lucidity with which it conveyed what it wanted to because towards the end, I clearly remember my mom saying, “Pyaar to pyaar hai, kisi se bhi ho sakta hai.” I could only nod in acceptance.

The movie ending with the song ‘Good morning’ was a cherry on the cake!


Image Credits: Google Images


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