Disability on Celluloid

Shah Rukh Khan, known for his romantic hits, will be seen playing the role of a man named Rizwan Khan who is suffering from Asperger's disease in his forthcoming movie My Name is Khan. Drifting away from its favourite theme love, Bollywood is now ready to experiment and films are portraying a central character with a disability or illness, marking a shift to attempting more contemporary themes.

We bring you a few movies where the lead actors have played people with disabilities.

Shah Rukh Khan, known for his romantic hits, will be seen playing the role of a man named Rizwan Khan who is suffering from Asperger's disease in his forthcoming movie My Name is Khan. Drifting away from its favourite theme love, Bollywood is now ready to experiment with disability as a subject.

We bring you a few movies where the lead characters are shown to be suffering from some disability.

Most recently veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan, who is 67 years old, portrayed the role of a 13-year-old boy suffering from Progeria in the film Paa. Progeria is a rare genetic disorder which leads to premature ageing and affects about one in six million children worldwide.
Hrithik Roshan will be seen in a wheelchair in his upcoming movie Guzaarish opposite Aishwarya Rai. The movie has been directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and is due to release in 2010.
Shadow an action thriller starring Nasser Khan grabbed attention not because of its story but because Naseer Khan had a hearing and speaking disability.

Aamir Khan also made his directorial debut in 2007 with the film Taare Zameen Par, which was about a child suffering from dyslexia. This low-budget film, made under a budget of Rs 50 million was a huge success. It was also India's Oscar entry for the year 2007.
Big B has played a disabled character in the much acclaimed movie Black (2005). He played a teacher who later in his life suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Rani Mukherjee also played a deaf and dumb character in the movie.
In 2008, Aamir Khan played a man suffering from short term memory loss in the hit film Ghajini.

Versatile actress Kajol, had played the role of a woman suffering from Alzhiemer's disease opposite her real-life husband Ajay Devgn in U, Me Aur Hum.
Who can forget the legendary Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhadudi (Bachchan) in the 1972 film Koshish. The film is considered a landmark movie in the history of Indian cinema. The movie depicted a deaf and mute couple and their conflicts, pain and struggle to carve out a niche for themselves in the society.
In 1996 Sanjay Leela Bhansali came out with Khamoshi -The Musical, which had its lead actors Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas playing deaf and dumb. The film won several awards.

Shahid Kapur's double act in this year's hit flick Kaminey won him good reviews. In the movie, Shahid played the role of twin brothers Guddu and Charlie. While Guddu used to stammer, Charlie had a lisp.
Acid Factory the much forgettable film of 2009 was an extension of Aamir Khan's Ghajini. In this film all the characters were suffering from short-term memory loss.
Hrithik Roshan played the role of a developmentally disabled child in Rakesh Roshan's Koi Mil Gaya.
Ajay Devgn played the role of an autistic man Indraneel Thakur in the film Main Aisa Hi Hoon.
Iqbal tells the story of Iqbal (Shreyas Talpade), a deaf and mute boy, who dreams of playing cricket for India.
Tusshar Kapoor played the character of a mute boy in the blockbuster film Golmaal. His performance got him rave reviews, which forced the director Rhit Shetty to make its sequel Golmaal Returns.
Dosti, released in the year 1964, revolved around the story of two friends. One of them could not walk and the other was blind. The movie did well and its songs became a hit.
In N N Sippy's film Sargam released in 1979 Jaya Prada played the character of a girl who could not speak.
Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Arjun Rampal gave a stellar of a performance in Aankhen. All the three actors played the role of blind men who are involved in a bank robbery.
Tom Dick And Harry released in 2006 was about three blind, mute and dumb friends. The film was a complete disaster at the Box Office.