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After much anticipation, the first trailer for Anil Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor starrer Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga released on Thursday. Featuring the father-daughter duo together for the first time, the film also stars Rajkummar Rao and Juhi Chawla.

The trailer begins with Sahil Mirza (Rajkummar Rao) who is narrating the story of a play, as he talks about the time when he fell in love with a girl – Sweety (Sonam Kapoor). We are then introduced to Sweety’s family as they look for a suitable match for her – and while there are several good options, she isn’t ready to say yes to any of them as she claims ‘she has a secret.’

What that secret really is about, is subtly shared with the audience via bits from the trailer – like showing two women being torn apart by a mob, which hints that she has fallen in love with a girl. What happens after the secret is revealed is largely what the film is seemingly going to be about.

Exploring the socio-cultural fabric of the subcontinent and what it means for a homosexual relationship to survive in such a situation, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga quite bravely brings a much-needed narrative to mainstream Indian cinema, of course, not without being replete with a colourful Bollywood aesthetic.

However, this will be the first time since Kapoor & Sons where a homosexual character will be front and center of a big Bollywood movie, after Fawad Khan’s portrayal of a gay man in the 2016 film. This also may truly be a first big-budget Bollywood film where a lesbian relationship is in focus after Deepa Mehta’s Fire.

Directed by Shelly Chopra, the film is slated for a release on February 1, 2019.

Check out the trailer and let us know:

Shahjehan Saleem

The author is Contributing Editor at Something Haute as well as a professor in the Media Sciences department at SZABIST, Karachi. Socio-cultural theories and geography fill up the rest of his time.