'Rani Mukherji's body language in Black wasn't authentic'

The director of Bubble Gum believes the body language of Sanjeev Kumar (Koshish), Nana Patekar (Khamoshi), Shreyas Talpade (Iqbal) and Rani Mukherjee (Black) weren’t flawless.
Sanjivan Lal is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune with specialization in Film Direction. His diploma film ‘The Second Page’ about the killing of under trials in Police lockups was screened as part of the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India in Calcutta in 1994.Starting his own production house, Sanjivan directed several one offs and serials telecast on channels like Star Plus, Zee TV, Sahara TV etc besides making corporate and ad films. His short film ‘Is God Deaf’ about noise pollution in the name of religion was selected for the International Festival of Documentary and Reality Films at New Delhi and the International Film Festival of India as part of the Indian Panorama. He also was a jury member for the Indian Panorama at IFFI 2005 in Goa. His maiden feature film releasing ‘Bubble Gum’ releasing this Friday is a fun, frothy and warm coming-of-age story of a fourteen year old.
From where did the idea to make Bubble Gum originate?
I did not decide on Bubble Gum overnight. It was a long process of figuring out what or how should my first film be. I had written three other scripts with Stars / Actors in mind but could not make it happen for one reason or the other. Then I finally decided to write something which would not have stars but would be strong in content and high on entertainment values. Thus began the search for the story and I decided to look within to write something that would be universal in appeal. I had often heard people lamenting about their missed childhood, their past, their first crush or love or call it infatuation, sibling rivalry, etc. Bubble Gum started taking shape. I realized it would be something that would transport anybody who has been 14 to their childhood and for the present generation – it would make them curious enough to find out a world that existed without Facebook, internet, TV and mobile!
Why did you choose this title?
People say children are like mitti. You mould them the way you like and give them a shape you want. Here instead of mitti am using the word Bubble Gum as a metaphor. If you look at the properties of Bubblegum, it’s hard to feel but the moment you put it in mouth it melts! It’s chewable, malleable and stretchable and when you blow air – it swells but beyond a point it breaks and makes the situation very messy! Bubblegum is very popular with kids and teenagers – probably it reflects them, their attitude! The film says – if you handle children well, they can turn out to be gentlemen or else they can go haywire!
How was the experience of working with teenagers?
These young actors are so natural and spontaneous that it is for everybody to see it themselves on the screen! They have all breathed life in my characters! I would like to make a special mention of Sohail Lakhani, India’s first hearing impaired actor in Hindi film. Without any dialogues to mouth – he has delivered such a wonderful performance! It proves that he is no way handicap compared to others! Given an opportunity – people like him can do wonders!
Did you have any disciplinary problems with the teenagers on the set?
No. Not at all! They were all from good families and thus well behaved ones! Kids being kids, occasionally they would play pranks on each other and joke, which was good for the film as that kept the ambience healthy and fun-filled! Whenever they would see my producer they would go demanding a pizza party. And were always obliged!
Since you have so many new young faces as actors, did you hold any workshop for better coordination?
I did not want young actors with pre-conceived notions about acting hence decided to go in for new faces. I wanted kids to look real and their age. Hence the casting team went scouting for them all over India. Beside looks – I was very particular about the distinction of my characters. For that is something which is very difficult to acquire and so to add flavour to my characters, I preferred to source them from their roots! Like the guy who plays Ratan is supposed to be a Bihari, so I got him sourced out from Patna! Partho from Kolkata, Jenny from Delhi and so on. Once I found them with the looks and the accent that I wished for, half my work was over! Then I got a 10 day workshop conducted by a theatre actor Pushdeep Rattan who really worked hard and got the kids to bond together and get the chemistry within right for the screen!
You have one actor who is deaf and mute in real life. What special efforts were taken for his communication vis-à-vis the script, his performance and interaction with others?
Well, my search for the actor took me to Delhi, Indore, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Pune but found my actor in Mumbai only – in Goregaon West where he is a student at Sanskardham School for Hearing Impaired. Once we found him – we did some photo session of him with the guy who was to play his younger brother! They looked convincing together! Then we gave the full script to his School Principal Mrs. Lata who read out the complete script to him and explained the story to him. To explain him the technicalities of film-making – I got my assistants to make a short film with him on Handycam. It helped him understand the continuity issues and how to sustain an emotion for a longer time! Once he developed a little understanding, we got involved with other hearing actors in a 10 day acting workshop for him to understand others and vise-versa! Soon they developed their own communication ways in signs and words! One scene required him to ride a scooter but being hearing impaired he had never done that – so we had to train him which he picked up very fast. Rest was taken care of while he was performing in front of the camera.
Why did you not take a normal actor to do this role?
There was no commercial compulsion for me to take a Star. I could have taken a normal (hearing) actor for the role but decided against it. For whenever I have seen actors like Sanjeev Kumar [Koshish], Nana Patekar [Khamoshi], Shreyas Talpade [Iqbal], Rani Mukherji [Black]. I found them all good performers but their body language left me wanting for more. Since I know the sign language, I was confident about directly communicating with such an actor and hence decided to go in for Sohail Lakhani. When you are oblivious to sound around, your reactions to a particular situation is very different from the hearing people and that’s where I wanted to make my character really convincing. But beside these things – tell me why shouldn’t we cast a hearing impaired actors in our films? Such actors get opportunity all over the world in other countries –why not here? By casting Sohail – we prove that such people too have talent and can deliver if asked to! They are NOT handicap but it’s WE who do not know how to deal with such actors which makes them even more handicap!
Finally what is the USP of your film?
This film is about childhood and so anyone who has had a childhood is the target audience of this film. Its’ an original story-especially in the times when people say there is no originality in our films and especially in the seasons of sequels, prequels and remakes. Here we are offering a fresh story within the same commercial parameters of Hindi Cinema. It has all the ingredients that go in making an entertainer but I have treated them differently without hurting anybody’s sensibilities and intelligence. It entertains but with some substance, it educates but without being preachy. It is an amalgamation of many things.