Trans Love Story ‘Lala & Poppy' From Veteran Producer Bobby Bedi Heads to Cannes Film Market (EXCLUSIVE)
The Mumbai-set drama, directed by Kaizad Gustad ('Bombay Boys'), explores uncharted cinematic territory through its central premise: a love story between a trans woman and a trans man navigating their transitions and relationship in a traditional fisherman's colony.
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Bedi's credits include some of the landmark titles of Indian cinema, including Shekhar Kapur's international breakthrough film 'Bandit Queen' (1994), 'Fire' (1996), Rani Mukerji-starring relationship drama 'Saathiya' (2002), Vishal Bhardwaj's 'Macbeth' adaptation 'Maqbool' (2003), Stanley Tong's Jackie Chan starrer 'The Myth' (2005) and Gurvinder Singh's Rotterdam title 'Crescent Night' (2002).
'When Kaizad brought Lala and Poppy to me, I did not see it as an LGBTQ subject but purely a love story between two people living in our world who had as much of a right to be who they want, and live, love and enjoy their lives as anyone else,' Bedi told Variety.
The Hindi-language feature, produced by Content Flow Studios, stars transgender newcomers Suraj Rajkhowa as Lala and Vaishali Singh as Poppy, both of whom were involved in the project from its early development stages, bringing their lived experiences to their respective roles.
'The idea came to me over seven years ago. It was a simple, but unique premise,' said director Gustad. 'Boy meets girl – girl meets boy, but the boy is a girl and the girl is a boy. They meet and fall in love. What happens to their love story in a conservative society that won't accept their non-binary status?'
Described as 'a joyful and contrasting story, like a bougainvillea growing in the gutters,' the film addresses serious themes of gender dysphoria and societal rejection while maintaining an uplifting tone focused on redemption and authenticity.
'Kaizad brought me into the project right from the inception, when he penned the first draft of the script nearly seven years ago,' said Rajkhowa. 'Finally getting the opportunity to act in the film was a truly surreal experience. Working under Kaizad's direction, with Himman Dhamija behind the camera, felt nothing short of a dream. Despite being newcomers, our ideas were not only heard but genuinely welcomed.'
Singh, who portrays Poppy, called the opportunity 'surreal' and emphasized the film's cultural importance: 'It's necessary in today's society for so many people who are cinema enthusiasts to be acquainted with the joys of being your truest self and loving freely.'
Gustad added: 'I wanted to ensure authenticity and representation first and foremost. So I reached out to the community and discussed my story at length.'
Shot on location in Mumbai's Khar Danda fishing village in April this year, the film features cinematography by Himman Dhamija, who utilized 70's Anamorphic lenses to capture the environment's character while maintaining authenticity. 'I believe that in that imperfection lies beauty that speaks for our location's character and the way that we all have visualised the film – a visual ode to the amorphic cheek by jowl life of our fishing village of Khar Danda and of our characters,' he said.
Sound design is by Andrew Beletty, with editing by Danish Shastri and production design by Michri C.B. Sangma.
Post-production is currently underway, with completion expected by July 2025.
Bedi, whose production of 'Fire' faced significant controversy upon its release nearly three decades ago, noted India's progress on LGBTQ+ rights: 'India is one of the few countries that recognizes many of these rights though much of our society and much of the world doesn't. I hope the film goes some way in changing that.'
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