Love and Lice: ‘Jooyein’ Is a Short Film Capturing the Intricacies of Young Friendship

I experienced my first heartbreak in the second grade. My best friend was a girl I’d met two months prior and while our connection was contingent on a shared favourite TV show, the love there was real. When she ultimately, inevitably, decided to instil someone else as her best friend– a prettier girl who always wore cooler shoes than my own– my world shattered. It shattered again when I was twelve and my new best friend pointed out my arm hairs during a fight, and again at fourteen when I discovered I was the only one not invited to a friend’s birthday party. 

These moments seem silly or insignificant in hindsight. As an adult, I can understand that kids’ actions don’t hold much weight or malicious intent. And yet, I believe it would be a disservice to brush off the feelings of the young girl in me who experienced them. Our childhood selves feel pain and rejection with a ferocity I’m not sure is comparable to our experiences today. In the same vein, the love and kinship we felt with other kids is unmatched; all it took was one break time bonding or shared interest to declare each other friends for life. I still think of the first friend I made when I moved to a new school at age six. We didn’t even speak the same language, and yet, we loved each other entirely.

‘Jooyein’, also known as Lice, is a short film that puts all these big childhood feelings on the screen. Written and directed by NYU MFA student Vindhya Gupta, the film follows Roshni and Chakor, two young girls navigating the complex social dynamics of their school. The two strike up an unlikely friendship, showing us the trials and tribulations of young friendships. For kids, social isolation feels like a death sentence and ‘Jooyein’ shows us how the desperation to escape it can lead them to make poor decisions and hurt the ones they love. 

Despite it all, a deeply loving friendship lies at the core of this film. Gupta told Homegrown that ‘Jooyein’ “is a tribute to many friendships I had growing up.” However one friend, in particular, was the muse for the story– her desk partner in 3rd grade. “We used to pick each other's lice, as one does at that age,” Gupta said. My friends and I were also close in that way, able to bypass any disgust or irritation we felt in the name of our friendship. It’s interesting to consider– today, I may be hesitant to do something like that for even my closest friends, but as a child, we wouldn’t think twice. 

The short film delves into the inevitable impact that kids’ home lives and backgrounds have at school. Even in elementary school, children can glean the social and class divides that exist between them, but Gupta said, “Despite being hyper-aware of these differences at a young age, true friendships did blossom, and I really just wanted to talk about them.” Her ability to portray the intricacies of girlhood and young friendships so vividly while maintaining the story’s authenticity must be commended. Where many others would resort to on-the-nose writing to get their message across, Gupta leans into her lived experience. 

Everything about the film, from its setting to the characters’ idiosyncrasies and vocal mannerisms, feels relatable and is, as Gupta put it, “steeped in the classic, everyday Indian family experience.” It’s rare to feel represented, not just culturally, but in experience, on the screen but ‘Jooyein’ created an experience that made that possible for me. I have no doubt that audiences everywhere, whether they’re young Indian girls or from completely different backgrounds, will be able to find a piece of themselves in this film. 

Follow Vindhya Gupta to stay up to date on ‘Jooyein’ and her other projects here. 

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