“A story of love and hope”

Sooni Taraporevala’a much awaited film Little Zizou will be launched in cinema houses throughout India, March 13, 2009.

Addressing a Press meet at the Ripon Club on February 25, 2009 the 52-year-old script writer turned director stated the film was "a story of faith, hope, love, childhood and following your dreams no matter how crazy they may be… It’s about false religiosity versus true spirituality, about the fun and heartbreak of life and about the city I grew up in and still love madly. I still call it Bombay and refuse to say Mumbai” (applause from the gathering).

The protagonists in the 101-minute film produced by Dinaz Stafford are members of two families, one headed by a crusading journalist (Boman Irani) who edits Rustom-E-Sohrab and a religious bigot (Sohrab Ardeshir). The story is narrated by 11-year-old Zizou (Sooni’s son Jahan Bativala) whose mother died after his birth.

Clockwise from above: Sohrab Ardeshir; John Abraham; Boman Irani with Sooni Taraporevala and Jahan Bativala

Zizou’s hero is French footballer Zinedine Zidane whom he hopes one day to bring to Bombay (Zidane was agreeable to make a cameo appearance in the movie but was unable to do so due to schedule clashes).

"I spent a lifetime outside India writing scripts about homeless children in Los Angeles, AIDS patients in Tennessee and Afro Americans in Mississippi. After 20 years of this I finally came home and wrote a script that takes place in my own backyard,” she said.

"Though the story is set within the Parsi world, the tale is representative of what is happening to communities and religions around the world. This is a universal battle between the forces of fundamentalists and (liberals). Every community has its lunatic fringe.

"I wanted to treat the issue in a light-hearted way because like Mary Poppins I believe that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

"At the end of the day the story is selling a fantasy and a wish fulfillment that one can triumph over intolerance and hatred. I believe that our world is increasingly mad and dangerous and can only be saved by love and a little bit of laughter.”