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Lala & Poppy — still: an embrace in monsoon rain
Feature · Hindi · 2025

Lala & Poppy

A gender bender love story. Written and directed by Kaizad Gustad.

Chicago South Asian Film Festival 2026 laurel
Audience Choice Award — Best Feature Film, Chicago South Asian Film Festival 2026World premiere — IFFI Goa, November 2025
Logline

Boy meets Girl. Girl meets Boy.but…Who is the girl and who is the boy?How do two human beings who both identify with the opposite sex of their birth find true love — and hold onto it?

Format
Feature film
Language
Hindi
Running time
92 min
World premiere
IFFI Goa · New Horizons · 23 Nov 2025
Status
In sales discussions for multiple territories and formats
Synopsis

A love story set in a colourful fishermen's colony in Mumbai, between Lala, a young man in his twenties who is transitioning to become a woman, and Poppy, a young woman in her twenties transitioning to become a man.

Every love story ever told has its share of problems before it is realised. Go back to Romeo and Juliet and Laila Majnu, and everything in between, and conflict is what drives the story forward: warring families, ancient enmities, differences of religion and class. Yet what greater conflict can there be between two lovers than both wanting to transition into the opposite sex?

Lala loves Poppy, as a man does a woman. But he doesn't identify with his assigned sex at birth. He feels he is a woman trapped in a man's body.Poppy loves Lala as a woman loves a man. But she doesn't identify with her assigned sex either. She feels like a man trapped in a woman's body.

What will happen to their love story if Lala and Poppy swap sexes? Will Lala, now a woman, continue to love Poppy, now a man, and vice versa? In a world where gender is increasingly fluid and non-binary, this is a tale of two star-crossed lovers like never seen before.

Festivals & awards
  • May 2025Cannes Film Market: trailer presented at the opening of the Producers Network
  • Nov 2025International Film Festival of India, Goa: world premiere, New Horizons sectionInternational Film Festival of India
  • Aug 2026Indian Film Festival of Melbourne: Australian premiere, with Q&AIndian Film Festival of Melbourne
  • 2026Chicago South Asian Film Festival: Audience Choice Award, Best Feature FilmChicago South Asian Film Festival
Trailer & poster
Director
Kaizad Gustad

Kaizad Gustad

Writer & Director

Kaizad Gustad (b. 1968) is a Mumbai-based director. His 1998 debut, Bombay Boys — starring Rahul Bose, Tara Deshpande, Naseeruddin Shah and Naveen Andrews — was a breakout commercial and critical success that helped open the way for independent cinema in India.

He followed it with the ensemble black-comedy thriller Boom; Bombil and Beatrice, a British arthouse film made in English; and Jackpot, set in a Goa casino and released worldwide in 2013.

From the director
"This is a Romeo and Juliet for our times. Instead of warring families, the conflict comes from within."
Kaizad Gustad, to Pickle Media at IFFI 2025
Cast

Suruj Rajkhowa

as Lala

A trans performance artist who moved to Mumbai from Bhopal. Kaizad Gustad found Suruj on Instagram five years before the shoot and cast them after an audition. Earlier screen work includes the short Bodies of Desire (2021).

Veer Singh

as Poppy

A trans actor who was transitioning during the making of the film. Veer joined the project a year before its premiere and calls the role deeply personal: a rare chance for trans people to be played as themselves on the big screen.

Nagesh Bhosle

Supporting cast

A veteran of more than a hundred films across Marathi, Hindi and other languages, and of extensive television and theatre. His work includes Hotel Mumbai and the Oscar-nominated short Anuja. He has also directed films, including Goshta Choti Dongraevadhi and Nati Khel.

Full credits
Writer & Director
Kaizad Gustad
Producer
Bobby Bedi
Co-producer & Cinematographer
Himman Dhamija
Co-producer
Varsha Bedi
Associate Producer
Zaid Ali Khan
Editor
Daanish Shastri
Production Design
Michri Thejaseno
Costume Design
Deepen Sharma & Promod Bhange
Hair & Make-up
Richelle Fernandes
Sound Design
Andrew Belletty
Music Supervisor
Ankur Tewari
Music Composer
Mohit Sengupta
Background Score
Dishaan Gidwani & Kabir Hiranandani
First Assistant Director
Anthony Pandey
Cast
Suruj Rajkhowa, Veer Singh, Nagesh Bhosle
Sales & press

For territory sales, festival programming, screeners and press materials for Lala & Poppy.