Rainbow Jelly is a celebration of indie cinema

Indie cinema has come a long way in Bengal. Made on a shoestring budget, Rainbow Jelly is about a special child triumphing over evil against all odds. His story is about hope and director Soukarya Ghosal said it’s faith that kept him going. “The producer who had first agreed to fund the food fantasy film, backed out on seeing my lead actor, Mahabrata Basu. He suggested that I take his son since the name of the protagonist, Ghoton, brought to his mind the image of a chubby child.I was not convinced. My wife said we’ll produce it ourselves, and that’s what we did,” said the director.
Soukarya took a loan and pooled in all his resources for the film about an autistic orphan, who is captivated by his guardian, Gondaria. Then, one day, Poripishi walks into Ghoton’s life and prepares food of seven different tastes that changes Gondaria. Curiously, Soukarya found support in everyone around him. “The sound studio where we were working for a minimum amount, let go of bigger clients to accommodate us. For colour correction again, it was the same. Rainbow Jelly was prepared like that.”
Recalling the hard days, Soukarya said, “We were shooting a crucial scene when the lights went out. Someone said there was no fuel in the generator, as the previous day’s payments were due. The shoot was halted for an hour.” The actors also went the extra mile; there was no makeup van or even a green room, but no one — be it Sreelekha Mitra, Kaushik Sen or the rest — complained. “All the technicians stood by me. Nabarun Bose, composer, and Arghyakamal Mitra, editor, gave the film a lot of time; no one made me feel that I had no funds. No one asked for an elaborate breakfast and the team would not even look forward to a lunch break. I realised when an indie film comes a long way, it finds support. And only if Rainbow Jelly wins at the box office will indie filmmakers find their voice,” added the director with a lot of hope.