Of youthful romance and unexpected love

The cast of ‘Lost & Found’ speak about their characters and what make the story unique

A youthful mix of adventure and romance, SonyLIV’s original web series ‘Lost & Found’ is four episodes in and is taking the internet by storm. It’s an engaging series with a strong appeal to the digital millennial viewer base.

Produced and directed by Kaizad Gustad, the story revolves around two people dealing with crises in their lives and how the unexpected turns they take, result into an interesting series of events. It stars the actor of ‘Ship of Theseus’ fame, Faraz Khan with Poppy Jabbal in lead roles. While the girl is forced to marry someone she does not love, the boy finds his life turned around after a series of misfortunate events in his life.

Sharing details about the story, Gustad, says “’Lost & Found’ is my original creation on SonyLIV and a very ‘hatke’ story. The boy, Jai is a nerd and computer geek, he’s a hacker; he writes code while the girl, Preeti is a bindass Punjabi runaway bride.” “Jai loses his phone. Preeti finds it and decides to keep it. He chases his phone, only to find her, and in the process, himself,” shares Gustad.

Gustad is known for his Bollywood flicks, ‘Bombay Boys’, ‘Boom’ and ‘Bombil and Beatrice’, all of which have an urbun touch; his signature. However, ‘Lost…’ is different, says Gustad. “The movies I made always had an urban touch. I like that milieu. Every story of mine will be unpredictable and will offer lots of twists and turns and so is ‘Lost & Found’. But the major difference one can find here is that it’s very quirky, crisp and it’s a beautiful story portrayed in short span of time,” he shares.

This is Gustad’s first stint as a producer. “It was quite possibly the hardest thing I have ever done, as it was our first home production with my company Adda Media,” he reveals. The challenges were many. “We shot it in 12 days flat, at just one stretch. It was a small and talented crew and cast, so though we had a lot of fun making it. I never actually handled money before on a film shoot, so the pressure of bringing it on time and on budget was overwhelming, given that I was also directing it. All these things were really challenging and demanding at the same time,” he adds.

The appeal of internet for short films and web series has taken over India. Gustad is all for it. “I’m very kicked about digital as a whole - it has a vast potential for filmmakers of all formats and lengths. It’s actually very liberating for a filmmaker to know that there are thousands of individuals out there who are seeing your work at their time and convenience,” he opines.

“There is definitely a difference in full-fledged film and a web-series, but both have their own space and can’t really be compared. The common thing that connects both is the story. Digital is a freer world now for the storyteller. The basics remain the same - you still have to tell a story that entertains, with characters that are unique and interesting but on digital you have a million individual audiences who can respond to your work instantaneously,” observes Gustad, who is currently working on the feature film, ‘Auto Bhagwan’.

Fresh-faced Poppy Jabbal plays Preeti Tandon, who has an insane energy to talk. She knows what she has to do but, she doesn't know why or when or where. “It’s her journey of freedom, which leads her to finding love,” shares Jabbal about Preeti. “I met Faraz at the audition. There's a golden rule that I follow - “Till the time no one says cut, keep on acting”. We had finished all our lines from the scene but, I didn’t hear anyone say ‘cut’ cut so I kept on saying my lines from the next scene and Faraz joined in. It was an instant give and take,” she reveals on how she landed the role.

City boy wonder brings charm
Then young boy wonder from city, who was seen in ‘Patiala House’, Faraz Khan is making waves with his role as JVR on the series. “JVR is a mouse. He's got a weak heart. When people are around he becomes extremely fidgety and he begins to get palpitations. Professionally, he writes code, which is not the same as fixing computers or Photoshop,” he shares about the character.

Witty by nature, Faraz brings the boyish geek charm to JVR. “I got the part because the “Force is strong within me”,” he jokes. “(Just kidding!) I met Kaizad through a friend when they were looking for someone to play JVR. He liked my work and offered me the part. And, I said yes, immediately,” says Khan, who is keen on working with finest directors and actors. “Storytelling is a marvellous gift through which we shape our myths and ourselves. I hope to contribute to good stories,” he shares about his future plans.