Barfi! To Margarita with a Straw, films that sensitively portray disability through lead characters

Anurag Basu’s critically acclaimed film Barfi! Completed 9 years on Tuesday, 14 September. With the star cast of Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D’Cruz, who made them Bollywood Debut with movie Barfi! Managed to garner love from the audience and critics alike. Apart from the dose of laughter, and the stellar performances of Ranbir and Priyanka, who sacrificed their star personas to fit in the roles of a deaf and dumb boy and an autistic girl respectively, the film also differs due to the way disability is portrayed. Is. With the main characters being specially handicapped, the film showed that a happy or normal life is not always limited to being physically perfect.

On the film’s 9th anniversary, we take a look at some other films that didn’t even treat disability as a joke or a seal of weakness.

Black

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2005 film Black takes inspiration from Helen Keller and her autobiography The Story of My Life. It centers around a deaf and blind woman (Rani Mukherjee), who learns to communicate better with the help of her teacher Debraj (Amitabh Bachchan). Despite her harsh ways, initially, the two form a bond and Debraj’s lessons help her become a more expressive woman. Years later, he develops Alzheimer’s disease and forgets who the woman is, and it forms a lovely climax to the film.

Taare Zameen Par

Taare Zameen Par is one such film, which upon its release was considered as an eye-opener for parents and teachers who put a heavy burden on children and make them fail when they do not live up to their standards. find. Revolving around a dyslexic child Ishaan (Darsheel Safary), whose problem is attributed to his laziness, the film stars Aamir Khan as the teacher who helps him overcome his obstacles and when he is on his own. Lends him a hand of support when left to tackle. in a boarding school.

Iqbal

One of Shreyas Talpade’s early films and one of the most notable performances of his career, Iqbal saw the actor in the skin of a cricket-obsessed, deaf-mute boy from a remote Indian village, playing for the Indian national cricket team. dreams of. Iqbal received the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues.

Sparsh

Naseeruddin Shah plays a blind man who is the principal of a blind school and Shabana Azmi is a visually impaired teacher in Sparsh (Touch). When two visually impaired people fall in love, they struggle to leave behind their shortcomings and maintain their loving relationship. The film subtly revolves around the sense of touch or ‘sparsh’, which blind people rely on. The film won several National Film Awards including Best Actor for Naseeruddin Shah.

Margarita with a Straw

Margarita with a Straw deals with two very important topics—LGBTQ and disability. The film’s heroine, played by Kalki Koechlin, is a teenager suffering from cerebral palsy who moves to America for her education, where she meets a blind girl (Sayani Gupta). The coming of age drama is based on coming to terms with their identity and sexuality while dealing with self-acceptance.

read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here

.