Trans Love Story ‘Lala & Poppy’ Premieres at IFFI Goa

By Pickle November 22, 2025

Veteran Producer Bobby Bedi charts a new course with a love story that challenges mainstream conventions.

As the 56th International Film Festival of India unfolds, a quietly audacious love story premieres in the festival’s New Horizon section on November 23. Lala & Poppy, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Kaizad Gustad and produced by veteran Bobby Bedi, arrives not as a niche queer film, but as a deliberately ambitious exploration of transformation, desire, and identity that producers say is designed to reach audiences far beyond LGBTQ+ communities.

The film’s central concept is deceptively simple yet emotionally radical: two lovers in their twenties in Mumbai’s traditional fisherman’s colony discover they are both transitioning to their opposite genders.
Lala, a young man identifying as a woman, loves Poppy, a young woman identifying as a man. What unfolds is cinema’s most unconventional love story—not because of their identities, but because both face the terrifying prospect that their transformations might render their relationship unrecognizable to themselves.

“When Kaizad brought this story to me, I didn’t see it as an LGBTQ+ subject—I saw it purely as a love story between two people,” says Bobby Bedi.

“Our objective is simple: bring people from outside the queer community to experience this film. The conflict between personal identity and societal expectation is universal.”

Director Kaizad Gustad, who shaped India’s independent cinema landscape with his 1998 breakthrough Bombay Boys, echoes this conviction: “This is a Romeo and Juliet for our times. Instead of warring families, the conflict comes from within—from the beautiful, terrifying uncertainty of transformation. We wanted audiences to sit with that discomfort and feel joy and fear simultaneously.”

The film’s path to IFFI reflects how global cinema networks are reshaping Indian independent filmmaking. The project was unveiled to international buyers at the Cannes Film Market in May 2025, where ContentFlow Studios presented the trailer during the opening of the Producers Network—the prestigious marketplace that connects international producers, financiers, and distributors. Lala & Poppy is built primarily for theatrical release, for festival prestige and streaming platforms.

The multipronged distribution strategy reflects a significant shift in Indian cinema’s economics. Bobby Bedi has articulated a clear roadmap: IFFI provides festival validation; international streaming platforms offer sustainable economics; theatrical distribution in select markets validates artistic ambition. This approach acknowledges that economic viability for films addressing identity requires reaching beyond community audiences to viewers seeking cinema that challenges conventions.

For Indian cinema, this positioning is meaningful. While regional films—particularly from Malayalam, Tamil, and Marathi industries—have demonstrated sophisticated engagement with queer narratives, mainstream Bollywood has historically confined LGBTQ+ representation to either comedy relief or festival circuits. Lala & Poppy premiering at IFFI’s New Horizon section signals a shift toward institutional recognition of identity-focused storytelling as cinema worthy of mainstream distribution platforms.
Bobby Bedi’s explicit goal—to bring non-queer audiences into the theater—reflects pragmatic ambition. Indian cinema remains largely heteronormative; the economic sustainability of queer-centered films depends on reaching beyond community audiences to viewers who recognize themselves in the universal language of romantic conflict and personal transformation. This is the opposite of apologism; it is confidence that compelling storytelling transcends demographic categories.

A Producer’s Three-Decade Commitment to Risk

Bobby Bedi’s return to boundary-pushing cinema completes a significant arc. In 1996, Bobby Bedi produced Deepa Mehta’s Fire, which sparked international conversations about desire and freedom within patriarchal structures.

Now, three decades later, with two National Film Awards and a 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from Spain’s Valladolid Film Festival, Bobby Bedi brings institutional credibility to a project that refuses easy narratives.

ContentFlow Studios embodies Bobby Bedi’s three-decade commitment to culturally rooted storytelling with international appeal. The company’s pedigree is formidable: Bandit Queen (1994), Shekhar Kapur’s Cannes breakthrough about the real-life outlaw Phoolan Devi; Fire (1996), which sparked international conversations about desire and freedom within patriarchal structures; Saathiya (2002), Maqbool (2003), and the historical epic Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005). Bobby Bedi has received two National Film Awards from the President of India.

The cast and crew reflect global collaboration. Director of Photography Himman Dhamija, sound designer Andrew Bellety, and music supervisor Ankur Tewari represent the international talent Bobby Bedi has consistently attracted to Indian productions.

IFFI’s Role in Institutional Validation

IFFI Goa’s New Horizon section represents a significant validation for independent voices by screening up to five carefully curated titles selected for their fresh cinematic approaches. The festival’s expanded marketplace from November 20-28 includes a robust co-production market and a growing viewing room enabling international discovery.

The film also arrives at a moment when Indian regional cinema—particularly Malayalam, Tamil, and Marathi filmmaking—has proven more sophisticated in depicting queer narratives than mainstream Bollywood. Films like Iratta Jeevitham (2017) and Nagarkirtan (2017) have demonstrated that audiences outside metropolitan centers hunger for authentic representations of gender and sexuality.

Lala & Poppy, premiering at IFFI’s New Horizon section, signals that such narratives are moving from festival circuits toward broader institutional recognition and distribution platforms.

Transcending Identity Categories

What distinguishes Lala & Poppy is its refusal to offer easy resolution. The film centers on complexity and doubt—it does not promise that love conquers identity questions, but rather that love becomes infinitely more mysterious when two people transform simultaneously. This ambiguity may be precisely what resonates across demographic boundaries.

As the world premiere unfolds in Goa, the broader message is clear: India’s independent cinema is finding sustainable pathways. Bobby Bedi’s return to challenging cinema suggests audiences are ready not merely for queer stories, but for stories that demand cinema expand what it can contemplate about human connection.