Portraying the specially abled in Bollywood
Bollywood movies that paid special tribute to the specially abled
By : subhash k. jha
Update: 2015-04-18 22:54 GMT
Mumbai: Kalki Koechlin’s extraordinarily convincing performance in Shonali Bose’s Margarita With A Straw, as a girl stricken with cerebral palsy, brings to light the way our cinema portrays the disabled. Here is looking at some of the other best performances of the physically or psychologically challenged characters :
Sridevi in Sadma: As the child-woman suffering from amnesia, Sridevi pouted, preened and pirouetted without looking monstrously hammy. Her performance was cute, endearing heartwarming and utterly authentic.
Rajesh Khanna in Khamoshi: After a break-up, Rajesh Khanna comes to a mental asylum to be cured by nurse Waheeda Rehman who has the hots for him. The performance was remarkably controlled... no hysterical laughter, no nervous twitches or a pointed giggle.... it was all amazingly smooth-sailing. One of Khanna’s best, Salman Khan played the same role in the recent Kyun Ki... quite effectively.
Jaya Bhaduri & Sanjeev Kumar in Koshish: Frighteningly real as a deaf-and-mute couple trying to lead a normal life. Wonder why only Sanjeev was rewarded with the National award when Jaya was every bit as brilliant, if not better.
Smita Patil in Arth/ Bipasha Basu in Madhosh: Hiccupping hysterically, wheezing in anguished nervousness, screaming as she falls dangerously into dementia, Smita was a sight in Arth! Years later, in a strange adaptation of Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind, called Madhosh, Russel Crowe’s character underwent a sex change. He was transformed into Bipasha Basu! And she pulled out all plugs to deliver a rousing performance as a woman who “sees” her imagined lover John Abraham. Schizophrenia in kitsch form... Bipasha also played a traumatised woman in Saurabh Shukla’s Chehra.
Salman Khan in Tere Naam: You could doubt the medical authenticity of this cock-and-bull story. But the angst in Khan’s eyes as he lapsed in a dungeon-styled dementia (chains in the hands and feet) and the pain of unrequited love stayed with you. A truly bravura performance that deserved a lot more recognition.
Kamal Haasan in Abhay: If you haven’t seen the Tamilian maverick do the psycho in this psychedelic thriller, you haven’t really watched an actor go over the edge without going over-the-top. Kamal Haasan walked that thin line without losing hold of the character's heart-ripping roots.
Priyanka Chopra in Barfi: As the autistic Jhilmil in Anurag Basu’s gentle and joyful film, Priyanka Chopra brings to her role the kind of elegant edginess that very few actors in India have managed while playing psychologically special human beings. Priyanka outstrips even Ranbir Kapoor.
Hrithik Roshan in Koi... Mil Gaya: Though he didn’t play a psychologically challenged character, Hrithik proved himself one of the finest actors of the pre- and post-Bachchan era, playing the autistic child-man in his dad’s Koi... Mil Gaya.