A son cooks his father’s favourite maacher jhol (fish curry) for lunch and decides it’s time to tell his father about his sexuality. In a live action film, the father would probably choke on his meal. Abhishek Verma’s 2D animation short wants to use the fish bone stuck in the throat to dive deeper – perhaps even delve into the minds of the characters and relay their thoughts.
For such detailing, Verma needs more funds that are currently available to him. His 2D animated film Maacher Jhol tackles the issue of sexual identity and its acceptance. After receiving a grant of Rs one lakh from Jamuura Films, the director has started a campaign here to find backers.
Speaking about the animation technique he has used, Verma said, “The 2D hand-drawn animation is a complex medium but has a strong appeal. 1 sec of animation involves 8-12 drawings and that too coloured. So for a minute of animation it needs 500 drawings to run and appear as a moving image. The film Maacher Jhol is 11 min 30 secs, so there will be around 5000 drawings needed to create a moving frame.”
Maacher Jhol has its origins in another story. “In college, I had made a film called Us Baar (animation short film) related to homosexuality as a part of my final year animation film project. I never let that film out to [the] audience because I thought it was not the story which I wanted to convey. Later on, I teamed up with Jayesh Bhosale (co-writer) & convinced him that we can rewrite the film and make it into a better film,” Verma said.
Verma’s other animated short, the acclaimed Chasni, deals with the plight of an acid attack victim. It won the Best Short Animation Film at the Indian Film Festival in Melbourne in 2014. See it here.