Bubble Gum

“One beautiful neighbor…One rival in love… Two Paranoid parents…It’s hard to be 14!” says the tagline of  BUBBLE GUM – a coming of age story of Vedant who is 14.  Director Sanjivan Lal wrote the story in 2006 while drawing upon his own experiences of being 14 in the city of Jamshedpur. Just when parents expect their teenagers to focus on studying and prepare for the Board exams, but the hormones take over and the teenagers fall in love.There are no big stars in Bubble Gum.  The star cast of the film includes Sachin Khedekar & Tanvi Azmi as the parents. Delzad Hiwale plays the character of Vedant, Sohail Lakhani as Vidur & Apoorva Arora.I spoke to Sanjivan Lal, the director about his debut film Bubble Gum. Abhijit: How did you think of becoming a film director?Sanjivan: Middle class families like mine tell you that you are not supposed to think of becoming a film director. I always dreamed about being in movies. Initially it was about being an actor because I was not aware about the other aspects of film making. However one is expected (in a middle class family) to take a techical course after graduation – I took up Chartered accountancy… but six months before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, I decided to go join a workshop in Delhi that was to teach you how to make documentaries. That was in June 1989. A month later I was at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune doing a three year course in Film Direction 🙂Abhijit: Between ’93 and 2011, did you make other films?Sanjivan: My ‘Diploma Film” made for my graduation at FTII was  The Second Page. It was screened as part of the Indian Panorama at The International Film Festival of India. I have produced and directed Corporate films, Public Service films and Documentaries for Films Division, Zee Chakra and Public Service Broadcasting Trust [PSBT] besides having done extensive work in fiction on Television. I shot episodes of Rishtey, Star Bestsellers, Suspense Hour, Mujrim Kaun (winner of the prestigious RAPA Award) and Raaz. My documentary Is God Deaf was screened at various festivals including The 35th International Film Festival of India as part of the Indian Panorama.Abhijit: What is Bubble Gum about? Since your film is also set in the town of Jamshedpur, some people are comparing it with the film Udaan. What do you believe?Sanjivan: Udaan and Bubble gum – both have been shot in Jamshedpur that’s where the similarity ends. Udaan was a dark film while Bubble Gum is a feel-good warm film. It’s about childhood. It is about a time in the ’80s in a small town when the children had no Facebook, mobile phones or even television. It is a film that brings up the insecurities of parents who are learning to deal with teenagers. It is heartening to see that every critic has appreciated this film. CNN-IBN says, “It is an honest effort, worth a watch.” (read review here)Abhijit: Is it hard to succeed making a film without big stars?Sanjivan: Yes, it is important for every film to be commercially successful. So stars do matter because that reduces the risk of the producers. Exhibitors are business people – not creative people. So it is but natural for them to focus on getting returns on their investments. This film would be completely out of place if for instance I had say a Salman (Khan) and Katrina playing the parents in this film. To succeed one needs to make a film in a reasonable budget and market the film well…to reach out to the right target audience!On the other hand, stars keep lamenting the dearth of good scripts and have to makes endless sequels and remakes of the same stories. But when there is a good story, no one invests in it. Isn’t that ironical?Abhijit: Your top five choices of Bollywood films?Sanjivan: My all time favorite film is Masoom (1983) directed by Shekhar Kapoor. The others would be Sholay; Dil Chahta Hai; Pyaasa and Lagaan. Abhijit: Is there any other film that influenced you?Sanjivan: There are two more films that I have loved the Iranian film Children of Heaven directed by Majid Majidi.  The other film I would mention is the French film Je suis le seigneur du château (Trans: I am the King of The Castle).And now for the trailer of the movie Bubble Gum.————————-If you haven’t watched the film Udaan – here is a link you can go through <click here>