Barfi! sparks debate about the portrayal of the differently abled in films

Anurag Basu's latest film Barfi!, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra in lead roles, is being touted as one that can change Bollywood's perception about the abilities of the disabled. Mainstream Bollywood cinema has always found it tough to seamlessly integrate the differently abled into its plotline.

The physically and mentally challenged have been portrayed as characters that deserve to be either pitied or mocked, but hardly ever simply accepted. Films that were largely successful in integrating this section of the population with the 'normal' one were immediately tagged as arthouse cinema. But with filmmakers and actors looking to challenge themselves, the arclights have now begun to shine on the differently abled.

Barfi! tells the story of the bond between a deaf and mute hero (Ranbir) and an autistic heroine (Priyanka). When he decided to make the film, Basu was sure that he didn't want to sentimentalise the hero. "If you spend time with differently abled people, you will get over the notion that they're unhappy, suffering souls. Please don't pity them. They find happiness in the smallest of things. They celebrate life constantly. It takes normal people much longer to be happy. For me, it was a given from the start: they (the characters) had to be happy."

Barfi! is only the latest in a growing list of Bollywood films that are trying to look at characters with physical disabilities from a different perspective. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish, Black and Khamoshi, Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan's My Name Is Khan, Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par (TZP), Anupam Kher's Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara and Mani Ratnam's Guru are just a few of the more recent ones that took the stand that the disabled are actually differently abled.