Bubble Gum
Coming-of-age Indian movies about childhood have mostly focused on issues that adults believe children deal with. But there have also been sensitive films such as Rockford and Taare Zameen Par that closely followed adolescent life, with all its challenges and joys. And today’s Lost and Found, which is Sanjivan Lal’s Bubble Gum, is surely a lesser-known gem that makes for a telling portrait of childhood. Set in ’80s Jamshedpur, the film introduces us to an average group of pre-teens running through the emotions synonymous with their age group. Negotiating jealousy, competitiveness and even fondness for a significant other which is based on nothing, in particular, are just some of the themes this film ventures into. It also carves some very reasonable and liberal onscreen parents played with considerable heft by Sachin Khedekar and Tanvi Azmi. In fact, one of the better lines in the film also happens to be on parenting. It goes, “Humein pata hona chahiye, ki patang mein kab dheel chodni hain aur kab kaatni.” This loosely translates as “[As parents], we must know when to crack down on our children and when to cut them loose.”Bubble Gum also delves into the many innocent fears, pleasant realisations and silly delights that tickled us as children. It also presents how these fears sometimes trigger minors to consider desperate measures as it seems like the only way out. Aside from delivering as a comforting slice of life watch and a mood-lifter, Bubble Gum also offers some unique parenting pointers to chew on. If you haven't watched this flick yet then do so on Eros Now , Google Play and Youtube.That's the OTTplay Lost and Found for today’s podcast. I shall be back again with another critically acclaimed film but lesser-known. This Is your host Nikhil signing out for now.
