Cast: Sohail Lakhani, Apurva Arora, Tanvi Azmi, Sachin Khedekar
Director: Sanjivan Lal
Bubble Gum is a ripe teenage story which is made with a genuine thought and effort. Had the film been promoted extensively the outcome would have been better than an empty cinema hall.
The film talks about the life and high-drama of a teenager’s life. A true and believable story that we’d all say has happened to all of us at some point of time in life. The film begins with Vedant (Sohail Lakhani), who considers himself to be the cool guy and is madly in love with Jenny (Apurva Arora). He tries his level best to get close to her but sometimes he is nervous and most of the other times it is his adversary, Ratan who spoils the game for him.
Vedant's handicapped elder brother Vidur (Delzad) has come home to stay for ten days. Due to his condition and being away for so long he has no friends in the locality. His parents played by Tanvi Azmi and Sachin Khedekar coax Vedant to help his deaf and mute brother to mingle and make friends. But Vedant has different priorities and considers his brother nothing more than just a burden while Vidur wishes for nothing more than his brother’s happiness.
The film explores the sibling relationship and touches on topics of jealousy, insecurity, adjustments beautifully. ‘Bubble Gum’ portrays the mentality of teenagers where all they mostly think about are their image, material needs and a time when they consider friends more important than family.
Director Sanjivan Lal has captured the minute details of a middle-class life at a time when phones were considered a luxury, where kids sucked on Phantom chocolates to be termed cool. The flow of the story is well-maintained till the end and doesn’t lose focus from the main characters and their story.
The child actors look like they were indeed picked up from the locality with absolute and genuine expressions without going over the top. Sohail Lakhani plays the lead character with finesse. Apurva Arora had very few dialogues in the film in spite of playing the central character but played the shy girl next door well. Delzad as the deaf and mute brother did a marvelous job. Tanvi Azmi looked and played natural while Sachin Khedekar was great. The ‘khalnayak’ Ratan too left no stone unturned to play the antagonist in the film. The other child-artists too gave a genuine performance.
On the whole, the movie is truly touching and worth a watch. It may not be a blockbuster but would be ideal for a DVD viewing.
Rating: 3/5
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