Bollywood is mostly about mass commercial movies with colourful songs and dances but if you scratch the surface, you will get many gems of Bollywood that were nothing less than classics. In Bollywood, movies based on various things and issues are made and physical/mental disability is one of them. Let’s explore some brilliant movies that sensitively handled the theme of disability.
Koshish (1972)
Directed by Gulzar, Koshish is the gem of a movie and one of the earliest movies that dealt with the issue of disability.
Koshish starred Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bachchan the played the characters of a deaf and mute couple. Directed by Gulzar, it tells us that people with disabilities deserve the same dignity of life just like everyone else. It’s a beautiful movie about the human spirit and even when they have to struggle every minute of their lives for even their basic needs, they never gave up. It’s a movie no cinema lover should miss.
TaareZameen Par (2007)
Produced and directed by Aamir Khan, TaareZameen Par remains one of the best movies on disabilities (dyslexia here)
TaareZameen Par is a beautiful movie that deals with the problem of dyslexia. In our country, most people don’t even know what dyslexia is and what makes it sadder is that a kid having a problem with dyslexia is often passed off as a dumb or simply an idiot. TaareZameen Par showed that every kid is special and instead of criticizing and shut slamming them, one should understand them and show them the right path in life.
Black (2005)
Black directed by Sanjay LeelaBhansali follows the story of a deaf-mute-blind girl Michelle McNally played by Rani Mukherjee
In this movie Rani Mukherjee plays Michelle who lost her hearing, talking, and eyesight when she was merely two years old and her life becomes black. The movie follows her journey from her troubled childhood to getting a BA degree and how she lives an independent and dignified. It also featured Amitabh Bachchan as her teacher Debraj Singh who comes into her life at a critical juncture when she was a child, and he teaches us to converse through symbols and sounds. Black was a success at the box office and the winner of many awards including a national award for Amitabh Bachchan for his performance in the movie.
