How Crowdfunding Helped Olakh, The Story About A Grieving Widow & A Heartbroken Domestic Worker

230 patrons. Four months. One independent film.

Olakh was built, quite literally, by a community. Nearly 80% of the film’s production budget was raised through crowdfunding over four months, with 230 patrons from across India and around the world contributing to help bring the film to life. The film, by Sulagna Chatterjee, shall be having its world premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM).

Olakh unravels on a cloudy Mumbai afternoon, when a grieving widow and her recently heartbroken domestic worker discover that they have both sacrificed pieces of themselves to be loved. As they cook a long-forgotten recipe together, they begin reclaiming their identities, one ingredient at a time.

A conversation we had with Sulagna revealed not only how tough it is to make a film, but the reality of film festivals behind the glitzy red carpet moments we associate them with. "Film festivals are extremely unique experiences for every filmmaker. And when it comes to shorts especially, the manual becomes even leaner. Every person gives their own two bits of advice which may or may not work for your film. So, as the director, you have to trust your gut. Festival submission fees become another big hurdle. Festivals are expensive! Traveling to them is expensive! Everything is expensive! And there’s no guarantee that even after acceptance and wins, it’ll translate into a long-term success. The lack of predictability makes this really volatile," Sulagna told us.

For Olakh, she managed to raise 10 lakhs through crowdfunding, an exceptionally hard process, she tells us. In her previous attempt at crowdfunding, it was only possible to raise 1/4th of what her production budget was — around 1.5 lakhs. The most surreal part was that the last chunk of money actually came in on the first day of shoot.

Olakh, starring Nikita Grover and Suhasini Mulay,

draws from Sulagna's personal experiences. Growing up first in Kolkata and then in Mumbai, surrounded by women across generations, she began noticing very early the complicated negotiations women make with themselves, with the people they love, and with the world around them. Their choices, their bodies, their ambitions, their desires, even the smallest expressions of who they are are constantly questioned. Some battles they win. Some they choose not to fight. And sometimes, almost without realising it, they give up little pieces of themselves along the way.

Food is often one of those pieces, and the film draws deeply from the journeys of her mother and grandmother, and from the complicated relationship women in her family have had with food, love and belonging.