Dealing with 'special' films

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Keywords: Films, Disability

When they play, they don’t find any friends. When they laugh, they laugh alone. A special child’s life is a struggle everyday. But there’s hope too. In a special series God’s Own Children, CNN-IBN explores how with some sensitivity and awareness, life can indeed be made special for the differently-abled children.

New Delhi: The representation of special children by the media has always been a contentious issue.

Filmmakers in India are increasingly ditching the picture-perfect protagonist for a physically or mentally challenged 'hero' and awareness campaigns are seen more regularly on TV than they were ever before.

But while Bollywood seems to have graduated a notch or two by choosing a physically or mentally challenged protagonist in critically and commercially acclaimed films like Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black and Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal, media at large is yet to overcome its handicaps in this respect.

Over the years, Bollywood has treaded the ‘special’ territory with acclaimed attempts like Koshish in 1975, Anjali in 1990 and Khamoshi in 1996.

The new millennium brought in a flurry of such films - from Black, a tale of a blind, deaf and mute girl, to Iqbal who bowled everyone over to Rakesh Roshan's blockbuster Koi Mil Gaya and Ajay Devgan-starrer Main Aisa Hi Hoon - clearly the stories of disabled who achieve the extraordinary.

Life for disabled children in India is hard, the society is cruel and the government callous. Do you know of disabled children who have been discriminated against or harassed? Do you know of disabled children who are winners? Write to us or send videos through MMS to 9873544444 or e-mail at citizen@ibnlive.com