Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama film directed by Shelly Chopra Dhar. The screenplay was written by Dhar and Gazal Dhaliwal, with the story inspired by the 1919 novel A Damsel in Distress by P. G. Wodehouse. It stars Anil Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Juhi Chawla, and features Seema Pahwa, Brijendra Kala, Alka Kaushal, Akshay Oberoi, and Regina Cassandra in supporting roles. The film tells the story of Sweety Chaudhary, a closeted lesbian, and her attempts to come out to her religious and traditional Punjabi family.

The film is the first collaboration between real-life father and daughter Anil Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, and marks the Bollywood debut of Regina Cassandra. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga is the first Bollywood film to feature a lesbian relationship. It was released worldwide on 1 February 2019. The screenplay was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its library's Core Collection.

Plot
Sweety Chaudhary is a young Punjabi woman who has to contend with an overenthusiastic traditional family that wants to see her married. However, Sweety harbours a secret close to her heart: she is a lesbian in love with another woman, Kuhu, and fears that she might not find acceptance in her family and society, and be able to have a recognized relationship with her true love. Her homophobic brother, Babloo, dreads her relationship with Kuhu and what their society might think of the Chaudhary family because of it. With the help of playwright Sahil Mirza, her father and family realize that there is no curse in Sweety being lesbian and having a same-sex relationship.

Production
Principal photography began in Patiala on 29 January 2018. Initially, Anil Kapoor began filming and Sonam Kapoor joined the production shortly thereafter. It is produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banner of Vinod Chopra Films.

The film's title is derived from a similarly named song from the 1994 film 1942: A Love Story, which also stars Anil Kapoor. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga marks the reunion, after 11 years, of Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla, one of India's popular onscreen couples.

Marketing
The teaser for the film was released on 27 June 2018. On 23 December, Anil Kapoor presented the first promotional image for the film and also announced the release of the trailer on 27 December. On 26 December, the film poster was released.

A second poster with 'upside down look' terming it as 'rethink the way you look at love' was unveiled on 8 January 2019. A second trailer was released on 28 January 2019. This was followed by the launch of the film's title track, on 7 January 2019.

Release
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga was released on 1 February 2019 on 1,500 screens in domestic circuit. The film is distributed by Fox Star Studios, and received a 12A certification from the British Board of Film Classification.

Home media
The film became available as VOD on Netflix on 2 April 2019.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 67% approval rating and an average rating of 7/10. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave it four stars out of five and wrote, "In the context of a filmmaking tradition that has usually been shockingly insensitive to LGBTQ rights, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha... is a whiff of fresh air, a huge leap forward from 2008's Dostana. It does not seek to derive mirth and frivolity from the theme, offering instead an earnest, unapologetic depiction of the act of coming out in a conservative society." He found the story "simple enough and... told in a manner that could be faulted for being overly chaste but the film achieves something far bigger than a Bollywood crowd-pleaser can: it goads the audience to think differently without deviating from its primary purpose, which is to deliver entertainment". Gaurang Chauhan of Times Now rates the film three and a half stars out of five and concludes, "Overall, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is an important, well-intended film that is high on entertainment, boasts of great performances and rightfully deserves all the applause".

Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today gave it four stars out of five, opining, "Sonam Kapoor and Anil Kapoor, along with writer Gazal Dhaliwal and director Shelly Chopra Dhar, deliver a brilliant lesbian love story that Bollywood should be proud of". Taran Adarsh gave the film three stars out of five, terming it as "Brave" and says, "Good to see unconventional themes being given dignity by mainstream actors... Will surely trigger debates about love and life... Anil, Juhi, Rajkummar, Sonam, Abhishek Duhan are top notch".

Box office
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga collected ₹2.90 crore on the first day of release. The first week earned ₹17.19 crore in domestic circuit. The film grossed ₹26 crore in the domestic market and ₹17.95 crore in the overseas market, for a combined worldwide gross of ₹43.95 crore. Box Office Mojo reported a total US$3.3 million worldwide gross as of 24 February 2019.

Soundtrack
The music for the film was composed by Rochak Kohli, while the music of the title song was originally written by R.D. Burman for the film 1942: A Love Story, and the lyrics rewritten by Gurpreet Saini. The soundtrack album was released by Saregama on 8 January 2019.