The Telugu film Bubblegum opens with its male protagonist riding his bike on a flyover in the newer part of Hyderabad; he is shirtless and his body language reflects pain and rage. Yet another portrayal of masculine aggression and a romance narrated with a male gaze? Writer and director Ravikanth Perepu refrains from walking that easy path. Instead, he narrates a story of young urban love that tries to cut across class differences, aspirations and insecurities and questions if love alone is enough to bridge the gap. The title is not an indication of candyfloss romance. It stands for how romance, sweet at first, can get sticky like a bubblegum, tough to get rid off even if you want to.
The beauty of Hyderabad lies in the many worlds it encompasses — the heritage-steeped Old City in contrast to the upscale new portions of the city with its MNCs, gated communities and nightclubs. Ravikanth’s protagonists hail from these polar opposite corners of the city.
There is a lived-in warmth with which Sai Aditya aka Adi (debutant Roshan Kanakala)’s lower middleclass setting in the Old City area is portrayed. His father (Jayram Eeshwar) has a chicken stall and mother (Bindu Chandramouli) is a homemaker. Growing up in a Dakhni-speaking household, Adi is a DJ who dreams of performing at Tomorrowland. When Adi’s path crosses that of Jhanvi (Maanasa Chaudhary) whose conversations with friends are about the crepes she had at Prague and the watery beer at Germany’s Oktoberfest, both their worlds turn upside down.
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