5 Inspirational Bollywood Films depicting disabilities
Dharshana Kathiresan, INN/Chennai,@infodeaofficial
Movies have a powerful association with the masses. Especially in a country like India, where the people tend to have a cultural, emotional, and personal connection with films and cast, the scale of them getting influenced by cinema is so high.
Understanding disabilities in human beings and how differently-abled people can coexist with others have always been difficult to comprehend in our society.
That is why several experts of the specially-abled communities have looked up to cinema for creating inspiration and awareness.
Given the lack of awareness, direct experience with disability, sensibility to understand emotional vulnerability, film representations can be an eye-opener for the public.
Films ideally portray the sequences from the specially-abled person’s perspective in order to make us understand how such individuals feel, behave, communicate, and experience life. Therefore it becomes important to illustrate disability in a responsible manner.
The Bollywood industry has been particularly effective in changing people’s opinions and uprooting societal stereotypes in India and across the world.
Let’s take a look at 5 Inspirational Bollywood films about people with disabilities.
1. Black
Inspired by the film ‘The Miracle Worker’, which was based on Helen Keller’s life and struggle, Black portrayed the relationship of a blind, deaf and mute girl, played by Rani Mukherjee, with her mentor, played by Amitabh Bachchan.
Her mentor brings a ray of hope into her world of ‘Black’ and helps her to overcome her misfortune and triumph in life. Both of the lead performances were highly acclaimed.
Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, this movie received national awards for the best actor and best feature film.
2. Barfi
Directed by Anurag Basu, the story tells about the relationship of Barfi (Ranbir Kapoor) with Jhillmill (Priyanka Chopra) and Shruti (Ilena D’cruz).
Barfi is a deaf and mute boy and Jhilmil has autism and soon the story develops to both falling in love with each other. It’s an unconventional, light-hearted tale, which tells us that love conquers all disabilities.
This movie never failed to show the sensitivity the subject requires.‘Happiness is not dependent on money or physical ability’ is the message of the story.
3. Taare Zameen Par
This film hit many Indian parents, who sat up and took note of the eight-year-old boy, who is thought to be lazy, but in reality suffers from dyslexia.
Initially rejected by all, this boy, portrayed by Darsheel Safary, meets a passionate, kind art teacher played by Aamir Khan.
The teacher is compassionate towards the boy and begins to understand the real reason behind his issues.
The depiction of how this teacher works closely with the troubled boy and uses art as a therapeutic tool to help him grow and reach heights is arresting. This movie is an eye-opener.
4. Margarita with a straw
This film is directed by Shonali Bose, which sees Laila, played by Kalki Koechlin, suffering from Cerebral Palsy. Even struggling with her illness, Laila is a very talented student- a writer, composer, and singer.
Destiny brings her to New York when she wins a scholarship and she goes on a journey to discover herself. The movie was highly applauded for exploring the sexual desires of a specially-abled person.
5. Sadma
Regarded as one of the finest performances of Sridevi in the 1980s, the movie also stars Kamal Haasan.
The film directed by Balu Mahendra, tells the story of Nehalata (Sridevi), a young woman whose mind regresses to childhood after suffering a head injury in a car accident.
Unfortunately, she gets trapped in a brothel and is rescued by a lonely teacher (Kamal Haasan), who later falls in love with her. The film was a remake of Balu Mahendra’s own Tamil film,
Moondram Pirai with the same cast. Sridevi’s performance brought her nominations in the Filmfare Awards, State awards, and National awards. Kamal’s performance in the film’s climax won him the National Award in the Tamil original.
The film is considered an all-time classic.