Thankfully, in the last quarter of the millennium, ‘mainstream’ has come to mean much more than standard (and substandard!) entertainers in Hindi cinema. Among these films are movies (mostly fictional) on people with medical afflictions and disabilities, and just recently, we have had the sensitive Tanvi The Great (on Autism) and the frivolous. Even the current fad, Saiyaara, looks at a serious degenerative condition (Alzheimer’s Disease).
From Paa to Barfi to Sitaare Zameen Par: Truly special Hindi movies on disabilities
But any disability around which a movie is conceived needs to be depicted in a positive and compassionately wholesome light, devoid of a frivolous approach (Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan on blindness) or opportune and synthetically pretentious convenience (Saiyaara), and in a way that the ‘entertainment quotient’ is in place along with the ‘emotional quotient’ and particularly the ‘intelligence quotient’. Happily, most such movies have been successful and have thus increased knowledge, understanding and acceptance of the human beings on whom such maladies fall.
Here we look at movies, apart from this month’s choice—Tanvi The Great—that became and remain special for authentic depiction of disabilities.
Barfi! / 2012 / Director: Anurag Basu
A sweet as mithai (a broad synonym for barfi) love story between a deaf mute (Ranbir Kapoor) and his autistic heiress friend (Priyanka Chopra), this sensitively directed Anurag Basu musical was happily a major hit, even becoming India’s choice for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category. Ranbir’s character was a happy-go-lucky and good-hearted guy, while to prepare for her tough role, Priyanka did research and visited mental institutions to spend time with autistics. The film entered the Rs. 100 crores club.
Black / 2005 / Sanjay Leela Bhansali
The film told the story of Michelle (Rani Mukerji), a deafblind woman, and her relationship with Debraj, an aging teacher (Amitabh Bachchan), who teaches her to maximise her remaining senses. Michelle even gets a degree. And so, when Debraj’s health declines due to Alzheimer’s Disease, Michelle vows to help him, just as he had helped her overcome her limitations. The fragile touch that Bhansali gave this film made it a masterpiece and earned it a National award for Best Feature Film.
Another film featuring Rani Mukerji, who now played Naina, a dedicated schoolteacher suffering from Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological disorder wherein multiple motor and vocal tics that are involuntary, including blinking, head-jerking, or facial grimacing happen that are socially alarming. This prevents Naina from getting a teacher’s job, and after she does get employed, she faces ridicule from her students before she takes up a challenge to prove herself. The film, inspired by a real male teacher, taught us the seriousness of both will-power (for her) and acceptance (for us).
Iqbal / 2005 / Nagesh Kukunoor
A cricket-obsessed deaf mute (Shreyas Talpade), who hails from a remote village, dreams of playing cricket for the Indian National Cricket Team. With relentless doggedness, he achieves his ambition. The path is strewn with obstacles, starting with inebriated retired cricketer (Naseeruddin Shah) who coaches Iqbal at the behest of his staunchly supportive sister (Shweta Basu Prasad). The Subhash Ghai production won the National award for Best Film on Other Social Issues.
Koshish / 1973 / Gulzar
The warm film showed movingly how the physically-challenged deserve a rightfully normal place in society. A deaf-mute couple (Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri)’s son turns down a proposal to marry the deaf-mute daughter of his father’s employer. The father, now a widower, must convince his son that people like him and his mother also deserve to make their lives as normal as anyone else. Sanjeev Kumar won the National Best Actor award for his portrayal.
Paa / 2009 / R. Balki
The inevitability of Progeria, a rare genetic disorder that causes rapid aging in children leading to premature death was caressingly depicted in this family drama. In an interesting role-reversal, Abhishek Bachchan played father to the Progeria-afflicted Amitabh Bachchan. Balki laced this film with gentle humour, and the film won the National award for Best Hindi Film and for Bachchan Sr. as Best Actor.
Another film sparkling with great humour was the latest Aamir Khan production, wherein an arrogant basketball coach (played by Aamir himself) is sentenced by a court to community service. He has to coach a team of intellectually-challenged students for a tournament. The team’s real triumph comes after the tournament is over, and the coach realizes that each of his students is bigger-hearted than ‘normal’ people, and it is he who has received real lessons in life.
Taare Zameen Par / 2007 / Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan’s debut directorial taught us about Dyslexia, where a child has a normal or even higher IQ but processes information differently, leading to academic reversals in conventional studies. Dyslexia is a truly endemic yet unrecognized miasma in real life and this sensitive showcase (from a script by Amole Gupte) got him the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. But much more vitally, with its great box-office success, Taare Zameen Par enriched understanding on Dyslexia like nothing else earlier in the subcontinent.
Tanvi—The Great / 2025 / Anupam Kher
Its tagline said it all: “Different, but no less”. That Autism needs understanding from us all and little more was clear from this story of a daughter of a martyred Army captain who does everything possible to fulfil her father’s dream, an impossible ambition for her. But her determination never flags. Tanvi is utterly lovable, superbly talented and indeed intellectually and emotionally special to all who come across her, from a music teacher to an Army brigadier, and more.
More Pages: Sitaare Zameen Par Box Office Collection , Sitaare Zameen Par Movie Review
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