A Comparative Analysis: Ek Ladki ko Dekha toh Aesa Laga (2019) & Fire (1996)

A Comparative Analysis: 

Ek Ladki ko Dekha toh Aesa Laga (2019) & Fire (1996)

Cinema has always played a pivotal role in shaping mindsets and societal constructs, however, some of the cinematic masterpieces released throughout the era have been ahead of their time. This can be said about Deepa Mehta’s directorial marvel Fire (1996) from the Fire, Water & Earth trilogy. The film was way ahead of it’s time and featured an intimate scene between a lesbian couple for the very first time. Sadly, one of the drawbacks of creating a piece of work ahead of its time is that it’s not well accepted by the masses. Queer acceptance was quite absent and an extremely uncomfortable & abstract idea at the time. However, mindsets & attitudes have changed since then, though little but significant change can be seen in the masses towards accepting representation of queer couples without being ridiculed or just a (queer) character for comic relief or in a negative role.

The visible change that was observed in a lot of the masses after the decriminalization of Section 377, which criminalized homosexuality, brought a wave of revolution on the big screen as well. Ek Ladki ko Dekha toh Aesa Laga released a year after, Supreme Court scrapped of the oppressive Section 377. Directed by Shelly Chopra Dhar in the year 2019, the film focuses on Sweety (Sonam Kapoor) & Kuhu’s (Regina Cassandra) lesbian relationship.

Deepa Mehta's Fire, however, failed to resonate with the masses as it did not reach the masses. In the era it released in it was not accepted by audiences, in fact quite the opposite happened it was completely rejected by the Indian society in general because of the nature and storyline of the film. Whereas Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aesa Laga at least had a decent box office collection of 17 cr. and reached the big screens whereas Fire was completely cancelled and did not even gather audiences as was given an A-rating. The major reason for this was Homosexuality being observed as a criminal offense and societies rejection of it as a natural and completely normal phenomenon.

Fire was especially cancelled out, rejected and frowned upon by religious groups like Hindu Mahasabha, Shivsena and many others for being vulgar and portraying unnatural and an unacceptable relationship between a same-sex couple.

Fire portrayed Radha and Sita’s story set in the late 1990’s in a typical joint family setup with an old paralyzed mother, incapable of doing anything by herself and completely dependent on her two daughters in law. Shabana Azmi’s and Nandita Das’s acting prowess along with Javed Jaffrey and Kulbhushan Kharbanda in supporting roles would have done a lot of justice to the representation of the LGBTQIA+ community if it would have released and would be perceived well by the masses, the film showcases a close friendship between two sisters-in-law which eventually turns into an intimate relationship eventually. Radha and Sita both end up discovering and exploring their sexualities in the absence of their ignorant husbands.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aesa Laga solely focuses on Kuhu and Sweety’s lesbian relationship and there budding love for each other, despite various problems they face especially Sweety’s homophobic brother who keeps aggressively rejecting Sweety’s sexuality and her relationship with Kuhu.

The film however fails to resonate on a large scale with the masses because of its slightly unrealistic portrayal of the acceptance of lesbian relationships in India to put it more elaborately in the end of the movie Anil Kapoor playing Sweety's father ends accepting the relationship after much convincing, which quite does not end up being the case for most of the people in India. Fire however showcases quiet a realistic representation which did not just focus on Radha and Sita’s relationship solely but also the socio-cultural aspects of the era it is set in.

It highlights the issues women in arranged marriages face & how they are stranded in a relationship where they are constantly forced to deliver a grandchild to the in-laws from the day they are married, as if a they are a child making machine and struggles of having to deal with abusive or infidel husbands who constantly think it is the duty and responsibility of a woman to serve her husband.

It focuses on many aspects of a typical domestic Indian household, cult worship and family dynamics other than Sita and Radha’s relationship.

A huge distinguishing feature of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aesa Laga and Fire is the background music and music composition of the entire movie. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aesa Laga has many catchy party tracks and songs whereas Fire just focuses on the main theme of the movie instead of taking a lot of the screen time in song dance and party numbers

On one hand Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aesa Laga is focused on reaching out to masses and has an appealing screenplay which is why it focuses on the upper middle-class family of Punjab whereas Fire rather focuses on a middle-class regular family settled in Delhi.

Another larger distinguishing point might be the casting of both the movies. Fire features acting prowess of the veteran and gorgeous Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das whereas Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aesa Laga features Sonam Kapoor which might not have done a complete justice to the film to explain further Sonam Kapoor is not completely able to bring out and portray the whirlwind of emotions and experience that a person goes through in their journey of self-exploration and having relationships, that is Sweety’s character. Although the film does have a few well written scenes for instance the scene where Balbir, Sweety’s father opens her diary and it takes him on a journey of Sweety’s discovery of her sexual orientation, isolation and being ostracized in different walks of life due to her sexual orientation. But except for a few places, the film diverges a lot from the main point and plot. This might have been done to keep the audiences which are not accepting of LGBTQIA+ community in their seats. However, Rajkumar Rao's character and Sonam Kapoor as her one-sided love interest is not a very necessary aspect that had to be added to the film.

To sum up, Fire presents a way more realistic and representative portrayal of lesbian relationships in Indian households and how it might actually be accepted by society and domestic households, however, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aesa Laga’s sweet undertone, and is a fun watch which some audiences might resonate with. 

The one thing that cannot go unmentioned is that Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aesa Laga was directed and produced in a time and day where homosexuality was decriminalised. Therefore, the film could have been made more representational by having a queer/lesbian person on the crew, just to give a clearer and better perspective of what queer experiences actually are like.