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10 Times Bollywood Has Raised Awareness on Disabilities
Bollywood films are made to please the audience and take the viewer out of their real life for a couple of hours and into another that is at times, totally unrealistic. When a Bollywood film has a more serious subject such as a disability, there is more room for creativity and the actors actually have to do some research and work hard to portray a serious message.
Films such as Pyare Mohan, Golmaal Returns, Mujhse Shaadi Karoge and Tom, Dick and Harry put a comic twist on disabilities such as speech problems, blind, deaf and mute and this makes the audiences laugh as it is not shown in a malicious way. Bollywood action films also use disabilities to portray strength where the main character may have a disability but still win over the bad guy. There are also a number of films that portray disability in its rawest form and with alot more responsibility and with such a huge viewership around the world, it is only right for Bollywood films to tackle these issues.
Below we look at 10 films that deal with disabilities:
1. Paa
Disability: Progeria
Starring: Amitabh Bachchcan, Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan
Director: R.Balki
Photo Credit: www.itimes.com
Progeria is an extremely rare genetic disorder where symptoms resemble aspects of aging at a very young age. The disorder has a very low incidence rate with around 1 in 8 million live births. In the film Paa, Amitabh Bachchan plays the character Auro who suffers from Progeria. He is a 12 year old boy who is witty and intelligent but looks 5 times his actual age. Amitabh won many Best Actor awards for his role in the film.
2. Barfi
Disability: Autism
Starring: Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra
Director: Anurag Basu
Photo Credit: www.hdmoviewspoint.com
Autism is a mental disorder viable from early childhood. A child with autism would have a difficulty communicating and forming relationships. Barfi is played by Ranbir Kapoor who is a deaf-mute man and Priyanka Chopra who plays a rich autistic girl. There was a little controversy as to whether Priyanka Chopra could pull off the role as people would not believe her character but she managed to prove everyone wrong and made the audience fall in love with her character Jhilmil.
3. Taara Zameen Par
Disability: Dyslexia
Starring: Aamir Khan and Darsheel Safary
Director: Aamir Khan
Photo Credit: www.wikipedia.com
Dyslexia is known as a reading disorder and is a learning disability whereby the child has trouble reading despite having normal intelligence. This disability is usually noticed by schools where the child may have trouble spelling, reading fast, writing words and sounding out words. Eight year old Ishaan suffers from dyslexia and doesn't like school and although he excels in art he has poor grades in all the other subjects and therefore his parents send him to boarding school where he meets Nikumbh an out going art teacher who brings him out of his shell.
4. Black
Disability: Alzheimers
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Photo Credit: www.pinkvilla30.rssing.com
Alzheimer's is a chronic neurodegerative disease that usually starts slowly and get's worse over time. The most common symptom is short term memory loss but can later develop into problems with language, disorientation, mood swings, loss of motivation, not managing self care and behavioral issues. The film revolves around two different characters one is Rani Mukherji who is a deaf and mute and her former teacher Amitabh Bachchan who suffers from alzherimers.
5. Guzaarish
Disability: Paralysis
Starring: Hrithik Roshan and Aishwariya Rai
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Photo Credit: www.reliancehvg.co.in
Paralysis is also known as tetraplegia and is a paralysis caused by illness or injury and can result in partial or total loss of limbs and torso. Hrithik Roshan plays Ethan paralyzed magician in Guzaarish who has given up all hope and files for euthanasia but unfortunately his appeal is dismissed by the court. Ethan then tries to garner support from the public for his petition until Sofia comes into his life declaring her love for him.
6. Margarita With A Straw
Disability: Cerebral Palsy
Starring: Kalki Koechlin
Director: Shonali Bose
Photo Credit: www.eyeonfilms.org
Cerebral Palsy is a group of permanent movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs can be different in each person but conditions can include stiff muscles, poor coordination, weak muscles and tremors. Kalki plays the main character in the film and she suffers from cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound. The film follows the love journey of a young girl who has to learn to live on her own in the big bad world.
7. Main Aisa Hi Hoon
Disability: Mentally Challenged
Starring: Ajay Devgan, Sushmita Sen, Esha Deol and Rucha Vaidya
Director: Harry Baweja
Photo Credit: www.santabanta.com
Being mentally challenged is a disorder of the brain that effects the way people think, feel and behave and the way they react to their surroundings. Ajay Devgan took on such role in the film Main Aisa Hi Hoon where he plays the role of Neel. Neel meets a beautiful girl called Maya and they end up having a child together. Maya then disappears leaving the baby in Neel's custody. Neel manages to bring up his daughter for seven years at which point it is questioned whether he is able to take care of her any longer due to him not having the mental capacity. This is a heart warming story of a child and her father and the battle one aces due to a disability they cannot help.
8. Iqbal
Disability: Deaf and Mute
Starring: Naseeruddin Shah and Shreyes Talpade
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Photo Credit: www.wikipedia.com
Being and deaf and mute is a term used for people who cannot hear and use sign language to communicate and also have the inability to talk. Iqbal follows the journey of such boy who cannot hear or talk but dreams of playing cricket for India. His father dismisses his dream but his sister helps him join a nearby academy. Unfortunately he is better then the star player on the team who father bank rolls the academy and therefore Iqbal is kicked out. He then finds Mohit who is an old drunk cricket player and persuades him to help him. The story ends in triumph as Iqbal impresses a national team selector.
9. My Name Is Khan
Disability: Autism
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol
Director: Karen Johar
Photo Credit: www.doobeedoobeedoo.com
Coming back to autism once again this time the character is played by non other then the much loved Shah Rukh Khan who takes on the role of Rizwan. Rizwan is a special child and has the ability to fix mechanical objects. When he is older he moves in with his brother and that's when he meets Mandira and her son Sameer, who he late marries. Post Sept 11th Sameer is killed by a gang of boys and Mandira blames Rizwan as his last name is Khan. Rizwan makes it his mission to meet the President and in the process gets locked up. The film is based on the journey of an innocent man that suffers from Autism.
10. Ghajini
Disability: Anterograde Amnesia
Starring: Aamir Khan, Asin and Jiah Khan
Director: A R Murugadoss
Photo Credit: www.imdb.com
Anterograde amnesia is the loss of ability to create new memories after an event that caused the amnesia. This leads to inability to recall the recent past whilst the long term memory before the event to remain intact. Sanjay played by Aamir Khan apparently losses his memory every fifteen minutes and to help him remember he uses photos, notes and tattoos.
Main Photo Credit: www.dawn.com
Vallisa Chauhan
Author
Vallisa Chauhan (@vallisachauhan) presents the Flagship breakfast show on Lyca Radio 1458. She has scripted and produced a full feature film called "Those 4 Walls" and is currently working on other projects. She loves travel and movies and tries to fit in both as much as she can.
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