National Award-winning filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has praised as a "brave film" Hansal Mehta's "Aligarh", which addresses homosexuality.

"'Aligarh': A brave film by a brave filmmaker! An outstanding starcast," Bhatt tweeted.

In an earlier tweet, Mehta had expressed joy over the number of views which the trailer of "Aligarh" had garnered online.

"(So far) 2.1 million views on Eros Now, over 1.75 million views on Youtube. Nearly 4 million views and still counting. Aligarh trailer is killing it. Come out and watch," Mehta tweeted.

The trailer of the Hansal Mehta-directorial was launched on January 28.

The film is based on the life of Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, a professor at Aligarh Muslim University who was sacked for homosexuality.

While Manoj essays the professor's role, actor Rajkummar Rao plays a journalist in the film, which is releasing on February 26.