The Depiction Of Disability In Hindi Cinema
The word disability means ‘a physical or mental condition that means you cannot use a part of your body completely or easily, or that you cannot learn easily’ (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary). In brief, disability means a physical and mental impairment – impairment to any of the cognitive ability, intellectual capacity, mental development, physical or sensory problem or a combination of these. It can be present in the person from the birth or may occur at any time due to the disease or accident.
The word disability came into the focus with the rise of disability activism in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1970s. The traditional understanding of ‘disability’ says that it is often perceived as a punishment for misdeeds of the past lives or crimes committed by the parents. Now, there is some change in the attitude of the people towards the disabled person or disability due to the efforts of some NGOs and activist groups.
The word ‘cinema’ refers to the motion pictures, films or movies. The motion pictures gradually turned into one of the most important tools of communication and entertainment. The history of cinema spans over 100 years and it is influenced by arts, technology, politics, etc. Today, cinema is considered as the most powerful medium of entertainment.
As entertainment, cinema educates the society and brings the change in the behavior and attitude of the society. Cinema, as said by Gokulsing and Dissanayake (2013), ‘is a powerful reflector of the society and not only the reflector but then again, we should also be careful that it also shapes the social transformations, cultural tensions and new trends that emerge’. Thus, cinema reflects the society and deals with the different issues and problems of the society including disability and diseases. The present paper deals with the depiction of disability in Hindi Cinema.
A Brief History of Hindi Cinema
The history of cinema goes back to the year 1896 when the first time moving pictures were shown in Waston’s Hotel, Bombay (Mumbai). However, Raja Harischandra, a film made by Dadashaheb Phalke in 1913 is considered as the first Indian feature film. It was a silent film based on mythology. The most of the films made in the beginning were mythological.
The era of silent films turned into talkies in 1931 with the release of the film, Alam Ara directed by Ardesh Irani. The film consists of 12 songs and thus songs became the part of the Hindi cinema. It is the first film in India whose tickets were sold in black. Therefore, the entertainment is considered as the main objective of the Hindi cinema from the beginning itself.
In 1940s, Bombay was emerged as the center of film production and considered as the Hollywood of Hindi cinema. The period was also witnessed the emergence of studio system such as Prabhat Studio of V. Shantaram. With the decline of the studio system, emerged Star system as the films were dominated by the Actor/Actress.
The most significant development of Hindi cinema in 1950s and early 1960s was the emergence of producers and directors. Even in 1960s came the reign of monopoly by singers. Another significant aspect of the 1960s was the production of big budget movies like Mughal-e-Azam (1960). The realism was very much part of the films up to 1960s.
In seventies, Hindi cinema was continued with the trends of sixties, but the gap was more between the films of multi star big budget and the artistic. The term ‘Bollywood’ created by the English-language press in India in the late 1970s has now become the dominant global term refer (referring) to the prolific and box-office oriented Hindi language film industry located in Bombay (renamed Mumbai in 1995).
The trend in Hindi cinema was changed in the mid eighties towards the violence and anti-establishment. Violence became an integral part of the film and importance was given to the villain. These films were more action based. The image of ‘angry young man’ was introduced who destroyed the powerful villain.
The films made from 1991 to 2000 show that the filmmakers returned to love stories and action films. The foreign returned hero is at the center of the film. Even, Most of the films were shot at abroad.
Since 2000, Hindi cinema witnessed many new trends. The period brought huge changes in the process of making film due to the technological advancements. The film makers started giving more importance to visual effects rather than the story.
Hindi cinema has handled different themes since the beginning. The theme of cinema changed according to the interest of the people of a particular era – from mythology to social, from patriotism to terrorism, from good to bad, from industrialization to modernization, from local to global, from community to society, from caste to religion, from male to female, etc. These themes are inspired either from the true incidents of the life or the imagination of the writer.
Disability in Hindi Cinema
Though most of the time Hindi cinema portrayed the stereotype themes – love, emotion and violence, some producers and directors tried to project the social problem. Even, the attempts are made for making the films on – disability and diseases.
The depiction of disability in Hindi cinema is strong from the beginning onwards. Most of the time, disability is projected as strong stereotype – problem, emotion, sympathy, cry or fun. Disabilities are focused for sympathy rather than empathy. Sometimes disability has shown as shame and celebration.
As cinema is a powerful medium of communication, the portrayal of disability affected on audience. The most well-known Hindi films of disability includes Jeevan Naya (1936), Dosti (1964), Sparsh (1980), Koshish (1972), Anuraag (1972), Dhanwan (1981), Sadma (1983), Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), Tera Mera Sath Rahen (2001), Aankhen (2002), Koi Mil Gaya (2003), Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005), Iqbal (2005), Black (2005), Pyare Mohan (2006), Fanaa (2006), Chup Chup Ke (2006), Taare Zameen Par (2007), U Me Aur Hum (2008), Paa (2009), Guzaarish (2010), My Name is Khan (2010), Angel (2011), Barfi (2012), Margarita with a Straw (2014), Yellow (2014), Zubaan (2016), Kabil (2017), Hichki (2018).
The disability is portrayed in Hindi cinema mainly to provide comic relief or to highlight the struggle of the disabled person. As Mohipatra (2012) pointed, ‘portrayal of disability in films swings primarily between two extremes – pity, fun, caricaturing, sympathy, and awesome heroism are at one end of the spectrum while discrimination, coping-up, emotional swings and aspirations of the human soul are at the other end.' The different disabilities focused and highlighted in Hindi cinema are as stated:
- Visual disability: Dosti (1964), Sparsh (1980), Anuraag (1972), Aankhen (2002), Fanaa (2006), Kabil (2017)
- Intellectually/developmental disability: Koi Mil Gaya (2003), Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005), Yellow (2014)
- Cerebral palsy disability: Tera Mera Sath Rahen (2001), Angel (2011), Margarita with a Straw (2014)
- Deaf and mute disability: Koshish (1972), Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), Barfi (2012)
- Deaf-blind disability: Black (2005), Pyare Mohan (2006)
- Mute disability: Chup Chup Ke (2006)
- Visual and Physical disability: Dosti (1964)
- Physical disability: Dosti (1964)
The history of Hindi cinema shows that even the attempts are made for making films of disability based on various diseases since the beginning. Recently new/innovative attempts are made to make the film on the rare disease. Such films are made with big stars. This new trend provides an entertainment as well as enlightenment. These films are made from the point of view of the disabled person. The focus is on treating disability with love and care rather than the sympathy. It shows suffering of a person due to the diseases such as retrograde amnesia in Sadma (1983), Alzheimer’s disease in Black (2005) and U Me Aur Hum (2008), dyslexia in Taare Zameen Par (2007), amnesia in Ghajini (2008), progeria in Paa (2009), speech problems in Kaminey (2009), paralysis in Guzaarish (2010), Asperger’s syndrome in My Name is Khan (2010), sight loss in Lafangey Parinday (2010), autism in Barfi (2012), stammering in Zubaan (2016), Tourette syndrome in Hichki (2018).
Discussion
This section discusses different ways in depicting disability in Hindi cinema. The disability is portrayed in Hindi cinema as a punishment, stigma, mockery, dependence, heroism, sensitive portrayal, comic interlude, awareness, breaking stereotype, sympathy as stated:
1. Disability as a punishment
Disability has been used as a punishment in most of the Hindi films. The first film that highlights the disability as a punishment is Jeevan Naya (1936) wherein the lead character abandons his wife as she belongs to the family of dancers and as a consequence he met accident and became blind. Thereafter, the portrayal of disability as a punishment became very common in Hindi cinema e.g. a brother who torments his deaf sister and brother-in-law became paralyzed in Kashish (1980), the rich blind protagonist gets eyes when he turns to God in Dhanwan (1981). Even disability is portrayed as a punishment worse than the death e.g. the protagonist decides not to kill his uncle, who murdered his father, partly because his uncle had his legs amputated in film Haider (2014), policeman who had his arms amputated by a bandit, does not kill him but crushes his arms in Sholay (1975).
2. Disability as a stigma
Disability has also been used as a source of stigma e.g. paralyzed protagonist is portrayed to die in movie Guzaarish (2010), an alien helps a child with learning and intellectual disabilities and also to get a girlfriend in Koi Mil Gaya (2003), a girl gets problem to find the mate as she is mute in Chup Chup Ke (2006). In such films disability has shown as a hurdle for the improvement of the person.
3. Disability as a mockery
The protagonists in films like Pyare Mohan (2006) and Tom, Dick, and Harry (2006) are with different disabilities and these disabilities are used as a source of entertainment for the audience. One lead character in the film Golmaal (2008) has a speech disability and it’s only for comic relief. Three nondisabled characters pretend to be blind, deaf, and a wheelchair user to marry rich girls as the father of the girls put the condition to the girls to marry to disabled person only in the film Housefull 3, and one of the character in Chup Chup Ke (2006) pretends to be mute and deaf to avoid to reveal something to others.
4. Disability as dependence
The portrayal of inability of disabled person to live independently is also strong in Hindi cinema. It has shown that the protagonists are dependent on others. The films like Dosti (1964), Koshish (1972) and Khamoshi (1996) depict that the people of disabilities dependent on others. Being deaf and mute, parents are dependent on their normal child in Khamoshi (1996).
5. Disability as heroism
The disabled people are shown in heroic deeds in some Hindi films. They are shown as brave men e.g. a blind protagonist saves a girl from sexual assault in Dushman (1998) and blind protagonists successfully rob the bank in Aankhen (2002). Such movies distort reality and do not help disabled person.
6. Disability as a sensitive portrayal
Though the number of films portrays negatives of disability, there are some films in which portrayal of disability is a very sensitive. The films like Dosti (1964), Koshish (1972), Sparsh (1980) and Khamoshi (1996) show realistic presentation of a disabled person. Koshish (1972) is regarded as landmark in the portrayal of disability in Indian cinema. It effectively portrays the hardships of a disabled person to endure while living amidst a desensitized society. Khamoshi (1996) shows the struggle of the deaf and mute couple. It also breaks the stigma that the disabled parent cannot give the birth to a normal child.
7. Disability as a comic interlude
The use of disability as comic interlude is very common in Hindi mainstream cinema. It is used as a comic relief e.g. speech disability of Tushar Kapoor and visual disability of Paresh Rawal and his wife in Golmaal (2006), Kadar Khan as a person with different disability everyday in Mujhse Shadi Karogi (2004) and speech disorder of Upasna Singh in Judaai (1997).
8. Disability to create awareness
Many Hindi films are made to create awareness and sensitized people on different issues of disabled people. The films such as Sparsh (1980), Black (2005), Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005), Taare Zameen Par (2007), Barfi (2012) and Margarita with a Straw (2014) tried to change the attitude of the people towards the disability. The funding for the Blind Relief Association doubled after the release of the film Sparsh (1980) and the Central Board of Secondary Education issued a circular allowing extra time to the disabled students to complete their exams after the release of the film Taare Zameen Par (2007). The film Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005) helped in shaping the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
9. Disability to break stereotype
In mainstream cinema, the sensitization towards disabled people has been witnessed in recent movies. The movies like Black (2005), Taare Zameen par (2007), Guzarish (2010), Iqbal (2005), Margarita with A Straw (2014), Zubaan (2016) have been quite successful in breaking the stereotypical images of the disabled persons. Margarita with A Straw (2014) is perhaps the first movie to depict sexuality and disability together.
10. Disability to create pity and sympathy
Some Hindi films create sympathy towards the disabled person. By watching the films such as Dosti (1964), Koshish (1972), Khamoshi (1996) one can feel sympathetic towards the persons of disabled and their disabilities.
Observations
The observations on the portrayal of disability in Hindi cinema are as stated below:
The focus on the portrayal of disability in Hindi cinema is changed - from portraying the disability to focusing on a particular disease. Even the focus is shifted from just making film for the sympathy or highlighting the problem to creating awareness with full entertainment. Though the portrayal of disability was social i.e. punishment and dependence in the beginning, now it educates the audience. The films are now strongly changing the attitude and behavior of the people towards the disability. The shift in the mindset of the audience indicates that the Cinema is a strong instrument and agent of social change.
Recently, film makers started portraying disabled person independently. In a very consumerist world, without considering profit of the film, some producer and directors are persistently making efforts for portraying disabled person independently. Though Sanjay Leela Bhansali received set back to make Khamoshi (1996) commercial hit, he did not stop handling issues, rather later on he made a very commercial hit films such as Black (2005) and Barfi (2012).
The disability is used in Hindi cinema to elevate narrative. There is a fashion to use disabled character in the films. As Mitchell and Snyder (2001) said ‘there is a trend to show the disabled character in the film in the highlighted manner or as a foreground’. Therefore, most of the times films fail to show the strong viewpoint of inclusion of disabled character.
Disabled people are treated as different, insane, helpless, or just to offer help or sympathy. They are not treated as general. So, the film on disability itself is considered different from other films. The reason might be, as pointed by Morris (1991), ‘the experiences of disabled are described by nondisabled’. As cinema reflects the society, it should depict the society the way it functions.
The films of disability are neither a social document, nor a social critique or an artistic creativity. Even such films are neither the voice of disability nor disabled person as ‘physical disability in movies is not simply the reflection of the societal values in the cinema but also a politically charged commodity which movie makers are asking audiences to buy it’ (Norden, 1994).
The films of disability are different from the other films. Such films are known for the disability rather than the general films. The film makers failed to depict the disability same as the other themes or issues. The reason might be that the film makers failed to realize ‘depicting disability is no way different’.
Hindi films on disability stands for two extremes as Kanan and Batra (2012) argues that “the imagery surrounding disability in films swings between these two extremes – pity, fun, caricaturing, sympathy, lampooning and awesome heroism are at one end of the spectrum while discrimination, coping-up, emotional swings and aspirations of the human soul are at the other end. And the world over, cinema has either been charitable towards people with disabilities, pitying or laughing at them or portraying their concerns with real sensitivity”.
As portrayal of disability in negative and comical is dominant, the film makers should be more sensitive while making film on disability. They should come out from the stereotypes. Even they can consider disabled person as an actor. They should create more awareness about the disability. Film as a medium should be used to advantage to dispel the stigma associated with psychiatric disorders (Bhugra, 2006).
Gender difference is also strong in Hindi cinema in case of disability. Men with disabilities found women in love but that’s not the case for the women with disability. Men with disability are more economically sound compare to disabled women. In brief, a disabled woman is more weak compare to disabled men in Hindi cinema. Even sometimes disabled women are the subject of sexual exploitation. Disabled women are dependent on disabled men.
As disability is both a private and public experience, some avoids showing disability, others consider it as a source of pride and empowerment. Some feel shame whereas others celebrate it. However, as cinema has a strong influence on the people of India, it is very important that issues like disability, mental illness and such problems should be tackled very carefully.
Hindi cinema has now changed in depicting disabled person compare to the earlier movies. Movie such as Black, Guzaarish, Taare Zameen Par shows the sensibility in depicting characters. But it is not enough. The focus and intensity to the issues of disabled person is not in mainstream. Mainstream cinema should depict stories of real-life heroes of disability. Even the proportion of making film with disability is very less. As cinema reflects the society, films should project more real life heroes as their subjects.
Conclusion
The discussion and the observations highlight the change in depicting disability in Hindi cinema - from portraying the disability to focusing on a particular disease; from portraying disability as a punishment to projecting disabled person independently. Though there seems an improvement in portraying disability in Hindi cinema, the improvement is not remarkable.
