Bulbule is an account of love and loss, and is an attempt to understand the struggle and necessity  for solidarity and dignity in the face of social precarity. The film emerged from a research project on mental health and has been filmed within the context of a state-run community clinic for smack/ heroin de-addiction in Trilokpuri, a resettlement colony in East Delhi. The film explores the fragility and tenacity of this urban formation. Bulbule, the word for bubbles in Hindustani evokes the fragile levitation of heroin users. It meanders through their highs and lows and offers a tapestry of compelling lives that exist simultaneously within an eco-system of friendship, gang-wars, and state surveillance. Bulbule unfolds through three chapters that look at the ascending stakes from initial encounters with smack to bare encounters with law, violence and death. The film was made with support of The Watson India Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University and the Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

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Key credits:

Script & Direction: Iram Ghufran | Cinematography: Raju Biswas, Kashif Siddiqui & Iram Ghufran
Online Editor, Sound Design and Mix: Ralph Fernandes | Editing: Iram Ghufran

Technical Support: Sandeep Bhatt

Executive Producers: Tulika Srivastava & Ridhima Mehra

Producer: Rajeev Mehrotra, Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT)

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Technical details:

Duration: 50 minutes | Format: HD | Year of Production: 2017

Languages: Hindi‐Urdu | Subtitles: English

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