#shelly chopra dhar

[folditdouble]

Women in Film Challenge 2024: [60/52] How I Felt When I Saw That Girl, dir. Shelly Chopra Dhar (India, 2019)

Why is loving a guy my only option?

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[addictivecontradiction]

Ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga, 2019

[wlwfilmscenes]

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (Shelly Chopra Dhar, 2019)  

[shesnake]

This is my ‘normal’.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019) dir. Shelly Chopra Dhar

[krishnakhakhria]

Video produced, filmed and edited about the release of EK LADKI KO DEKHA TOH AISA LAGA. (link here)

[mozima]

“I’ve had enough! Marry Pankaj. Marry the Muslim man. Marry the Banihal App guy. My head’s about to explode! Brother Babloo lied to everyone that I have a Muslim boyfriend. I have no Muslim Boyfriend. Forget Muslim, I have no boyfriend whatsoever. Why does everyone have a one-track mind? Is it necessary; that I fall in love with a man?... I love a girl!”

- Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019)

[cinefiled]

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019)

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is such a nice, friendly movie that even without the "twist" it would be perfectly delightful. but Shelly Chopra Dhar use the incredible wealth of charm and good feeling the movie banks in the first hour to increasingly address social prejudices in the second hour. Even while doing so, the movie maintains a light spirit until the dramatic, emotional climax when it briefly stumbles into one overly didactic speech but surrounds it with some subtler and some more impactful messages about prejudice, love, and representation in entertainment. Among my favorite shots in the movie were brief looks at audience members at a play reacting to seeing themselves represented onstage (and by proxy on-screen) for perhaps the first time in their lives.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019) Director: Shelly Chopra Dhar

[getwastedonlife11]

I have seen a few posts and articles/reviews where folks describe their disappointment with the film because the love story between Sweety and Kuhu was not shown as much as they would have liked. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and you are allowed to feel that way. That being said, I do not understand why people are bashing the film.

The point of the movie is not about Sweety and Kuhu falling in love - it’s about Sweety learning how to accept herself, be herself, and hoping that will help others accept her for who she is. It just so happens that in that process, she fell in love. This movie is not meant to be the gay DDLJ, and for good reason. The team went into this knowing that they could suffer some serious backlash, but they went ahead with it anyway. Why? In hopes of educating people, of changing their perspective. So I don’t understand why LGBTQ people are not supporting this film for what it has to offer.

This movie gives us so much more than we have EVER gotten from a mainstream Bollywood film. It gave us a montage of two women falling in love with the title song playing in the background; it showed Sweety coming to terms with her sexuality in a real and relatable story; it had her standing up for herself and taking control of the situation when others tried to tell her how to live her life. But most importantly, it gives us representation.

The purpose of this movie is not to be a fluffy and romantic tale of two women falling in love. The goal of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is to share an authentic story that reflects our life and experiences. You know what also makes this movie so great? It gives us all the things we love about Bollywood movies and slips Sweety’s story into it. But folks, if LGBTQ people don’t stand up this film, then how are we ever going to get a full-fledged wlw romantic comedy/drama in Bollywood? We need to take what this film has to offer, support it, and continue to fight for the representation that we rightly deserve. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga may not have been the movie some of us wanted it to be, but it is definitely the movie that it needs to be.

TL; DR: LGBTQ people need to stop slacking on their support for Ek Ladki because it’s not the gay DDLJ, otherwise how are we going to get the romantic story that we all deserve?

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

February 2019 U.S. Releases Directed by Women

February 1 Miss Bala dir. Catherine Hardwicke (WIDE) Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga dir. Shelly Chopra Dhar (PLATFORM)

February 8 Birds of Paradise dir. Cristina Gallego & Ciro Guerra (LIMITED) Berlin, I Love You dir. Dianna Agron, Peter Chelsom, Fernando Eimbcke, Justin Franklin, Dennis Gansel, Dani Levy, Daniel Lwowski, Josef Rusnak, Til Schweiger, Massy Tadjedin, Gabriela Tscherniak (LIMITED) Untogether dir. Emma Forrest (LIMITED)

February 15 Patrick dir. Mandie Fletcher (LIMITED)

[desifemslash]

Please listen to this Podcast of Shelly Chopra talking about the importance of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga to its Indian audience as well as how she hopes this movie could be something for the the “young generation of [queer] kids” “who’ll grow up differently” to have something to hold on to. 

She explains why this movie was intended for the family audience, understand the criticism that the movie has received due to its lack of scenes between Sonam Kapoor and Regina Cassandra but explains that their goal was to make this movie as a stepping stone, a conversation opener for the adults, and ultimately something for the younger generation to hold on to. 

Saying:

“Representation is very important, but i wanted this to make a difference in peoples lives. I didn’t just want to help the existing [lgbt] community, I wanted this to help the upcoming communities; the younger kids. We are all adults here, but I am thinking more about the children that are out there that will grow up differently if they have an open community. […] which is what my intentions are; to change the lives of the younger generation, to help them.”

[addictivecontradiction]

Ek Ladki ko Dekha toh aisa laga, 2019

[slutfortoast]

So it's been over a day since I saw ELKDTAL on Netflix and aaaaaaa my love for this movie is endless

they used my favourite Bollywood tropes to make something so beautiful?? and while my heart cries for more screen-time for Sonam-Regina, what truly, TRULY broke me during the length of this movie is the little girl watching the play in the audience. I didn't think much of it at first, but they showed her a couple times and she was close to tears while seeing the play. I don't know if she was simply moved by the play, or if it was because she felt trapped too, or because she knew someone else who did. Maybe it was her story, maybe it was someone's whom she knew or maybe (definitely) it was a story worth moving one to tears.

I want her to know, she's my story too. I've been her, too.

[wlwfilmscenes]

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (Shelly Chopra Dhar, 2019)

[delilahmidnight]

Like honestly, even if Ek Ladki fails at the box office, even if everyone turns against Miss Sonam and her dad and Miss Juhi Chawla, and even if Miss Shelly Chopra Dhar never makes a single other movie ever again....this whole team, this whole family, will have the undying love and loyalty of the Desi wlw community. That's how fucking profound and transformative and healing this experience is for us. We love so hard, but we have to guard ourselves so fiercely, that now that this team has shown themselves to be on our side, we won't ever forget it. We will always be there to stan and love and support all their creative projects from now on.

[silentassassin21]

52 films by women 2019 → Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019), dir. Shelly Chopra Dhar