A Rainbow of emotions

It was a boisterous atmosphere, where cheers and claps rented the air. The film ‘Rainbow’, written and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor garnered accolades from children for its simple yet heart- rending story. Set in a barren village in Rajasthan it’s a tale about the bond between a brother and sister and there endeavour to chase their dream.

Chotu (Krrish Chhabria), is an 8-year-old boy loses his eyesight due to illness is hopeful to get his sight back. A big time fan of “Bhai” (Salman Khan), Chotu is mermerised by movies. The quick-witted boy and her 10-year- old sister Pari, who is in awe of Shah Rukh Khan (Hetal Gada), are inseparable.

Pari is the eyes of her younger brother and she even flunks her class to be in the same class as her brother to teach him better. The brother-sister duo lose their parents in an accident and they live with their uncle and an archetypal, cruel aunt. Pari has promised Chotu that he will be able to see again when he turns nine; however, they do not have enough money for the operation.

With Chotu’s birthday approaching soon Pari has to think of something. On a weekly visit to the local theatre in the next village Pari sees a poster of Shah Rukh Khan, where he urges people to donate eyes.

The superstar becomes the beacon of the hope and she writes to the star. When she comes to know that her idol is shooting a film 300 kilometres away in the desert, little Pari and her kid brother set off to seek his help.

Elahe Hiptoola, who co-produced the 103-minute feature, was present at the screening and was elated about the response the film got from children. “This is a really exciting experience to see children cheering at the right moment and scenes in the film,” Elahe shared.

Elahe stated that the feature film was completed in 39 days and Nagesh did not do any compromise on production of the film. “Nagesh never compromises on production. He shoots the film exactly the way he envisions them,” Elahe said.

Speaking about the little stars of the film Elahe says, “We selected them through auditions and we have conducted workshops for them so that they can get a hang about visually impaired people. Krish was so fascinated when he saw children were doing regular things without any hassle.”

‘Rainbow’ was selected for the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in February and it has won the Grand Prix for Best Feature, given by the International Jury in the Generation KPlus section for children, as well as a Special Mention of the Children’s Jury in the same section at the Festival. The film will release commercially in January.