Rainbow Jelly review: Original story and brave casting makes this film worth a watch

It is not always easy to execute a simple and an innocent idea. However, Soukarya Ghosal does that successfully with his latest film Rainbow Jelly.

The food fantasy feature that narrates a fairy-tale like story is definitely a creation meant for children, but the honest emotions inherent in it makes the film worth a watch for adults too.

Rainbow Jelly is an outcome of Ghosal’s research on taste theory and Ayurveda. The film surprises not only with the treatment of the subject and a moving story, but also with the casting of Mahabrata Basu who has been suffering from septicaemia since birth.

The young actor has performed with such honesty that at no point does he appear amateurish and delivers a heartwarming act that overwhelms the audience.

The story revolves around Ghoton (Basu), a name generally attributed to simpletons, who was orphaned as a child and has been brought up by his greedy and tyrannical maternal uncle (Kaushik Sen) ever since. As Ghoton fails in school for the second time, the principal advises the uncle to admit him in a school for specially-abled children.

However, the wicked uncle thinks it better to keep Ghoton as his servant at home rather than waste money on his education.

Therefore, Ghoton is now a boy with dreams. He loves to draw and runs to the terrace when he hears an aeroplane flying in the sky. He sweats the entire day and fulfills his uncles orders. He buys groceries, cooks for the uncle, while he himself eats at a nearby cheap tea stall.

Ghoton’s uncle doesn’t lose a single chance to admonish and beat him up cruelly. All he cares for is his food which he can afford only from the money he recieves from the fixed deposits made by Ghoton’s father.

Ghoton does all the work with the only hope that after he turns 18, his uncle will hand over the ‘Jaker Dhan’ or all his father’s properties to him. Jaker Dhan is also a reference to an adventure story by Hemendra Kumar Roy.

On his birthday Ghoton buys balloons and decorates his messy room. However, his uncle spoils the day as he is unhappy with the food that he gets that day. Dejected and helpless, Ghoton cries in front of his mother’s photograph. He remembers tea-stall owner Anadi Da’s (Santilal Mukherjee) words and offers those tears to a ruined painting of his mother and ties it to a few gas balloons.

That night, he hears a knock at his door. As he opens it, a lady (Sreelekha Mitra), wearing a gown enters the house and introduces herself as Pori, meaning a fairy. Poripishi (fairy-aunty) offers to help Ghoton win his uncle’s heart. She will do so by secretly cooking seven dishes in the following seven days that will transform the uncle and eventually help Ghoton get hold of his Jaker Dhan.

Though Ghoton's journey is cleched in a sense, the fil offers the most unexpected twist in the climax.

From the very start, the audience cannot help but feel for the character of Ghoton, not for his sorry state or the cruelties inflicted upon him, but for his bright smile, his concern for his uncle despite all the tortures, his attachment with his deceased mother and for his secret affection for Poppins (Anumegha Banerjee), a cute girl from the neighbourhood.

Poppins’ soft feelings for Ghotonda too melt the heart to a great deal. When everybody is busy ridiculing Ghoton, Poppins accepts him as he is.

Ghoshal proves his maturity as a storyteller in sketching the character of the uncle. He is surely the villain, but his funny speech defect, mood changes, retain the innocent flavour of the story, not turning him into an out-an-out negative character. The audience cannot help but sympathise with him at the end.

The story only has a few characters and all the artistes seem to have put their heart and soul in their acts. Basu’s honesty, Banerjee’s innocence and Kaushik Sen’s brilliant performance, add to the feel-good experience that the film offers. Sen's perfection at the speech defect is commendable and so are his sudden mood changes.

Sreelekha Mitra too delivers an extremely commendable performance as Poripishi. The way Poripishi changes the Ghoton's world and polishes him as a human being shows the amount of insight Ghosal has put in preparing the character. Santilal Mukherjee as the benevolent Anadi da delivers a decent act as well.  

The director definitely deserves special credits for capturing the most natural expressions of young Basu. His halts in speaking, a few hiccups in throwing dialogues, all together enhance the depth of his character.

Aalok Maiti’s camera work makes watching the film a whole-some experience. Editor Arghyakamal Mitra does an amazing job in lending the film the touches of fantasy when it is just needed.

Nabarun Bose’s music and the songs sung by a bunch of kids make sure that there remains no loophole in the film.

Rainbow Jelly is a must watch for its story, the emotional journey and the director’s bold attempt at proving the special abilities of children like Mahabrata Basu.