In pictures: 7 Bollywood films that spoke about people with disabilities

Black

Another work of art from Sanjay Leela Bhansali released in 2005, the film is based on Helen Keller’s life and struggles. It is an inspiring story which throws light on a visually impaired girl overcoming all obstacles and turning one of the biggest humanitarians of contemporary time.

Iqbal

Iqbal is a 2005 film. Iqbal is a deaf and mute boy who wants to play for Indian cricket team but is turned down by his poor farmer father. However he fights all odds and at the end, achieves what he dreamt of. The film had received a National Award in the category of “Best Film on Other Social Issue”.

Khamoshi

Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and released in 1996, Khamoshi is a musical drama which rotates about a deaf and mute couple with a son and daughter; both of them can hear and speak. It routes around life of the children who at one hand want to achieve whatever an usual person with usual aspiration would want to, and at the other hand are stuck amidst silence at home. The film wasn’t a huge success in box office but it was admired by serious viewers and film critics.

Koshish

This 1972 film is considered a landmark in Indian cinema. The film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri is the story of a deaf and mute couple who struggle to find their way out of a society that’s so full of insensitivity. They meet, fall for each other, get married, have a child, bring him up with every drop of sweat and their son gets married to a deaf and mute girl too. Love-pain-conflicts, all in silence, together create a heart melting story which makes us fall in love with silence.

Margarita With a Straw

In pictures: 7 Bollywood films that spoke about people with disabilities

Sparsh

The film was released in 1980. Naseeruddin Shah is a visually challenged principal who heads a blind school and teaches blind students. Shabana Azmi, who is a visually able teacher at the same school, falls in love with him. They fall apart with the course of life and again reconnect with a touch of love. The film efficiently narrates how a tale of love between a visually challenged and a visually enabled individual could be.

Taare Zameen Par

This 2007 film directed by Aamir Khan is the moving story of a kid who suffers from Dyslexia. The present education system, thanks to the rat race it has given birth to, has very little space for children with special needs. This often results in obstacles which block ways of a child’s healthy upbringing. How a challenged child who excels in art but flunks in his studies, meets the friend-philosopher-guide in form of a teacher and how that changes the direction of his life, itself is a beautiful story.