Over the years, Sparsh (1980), Kohshish (1972), Zero (2018) and Margarita With A Straw (2014) are among the movies in Bollywood where we have seen lead characters who are disabled. These movies all have one thing in common: these roles are played by non-disabled people.
The recently released movie Jalsa, directed by Suresh Triveni, makes a bold statement by diverting from this trend; casting a disabled child in the role of a disabled child. Surya Kasibhatla, a 14-year-old with cerebral palsy, plays Ayush, Vidya Balan’s son in the film.
For many disabled people, Jalsa is a refreshing change. Candice Dsouza, Counselling Psychologist, who lives with cerebral palsy, spoke to us about the choice to cast an actor with cerebral palsy for the movie. She said, "I was quite touched to learn the actor actually lives with cerebral palsy. It also means that there’s a true representation for children and disabled adults like me for the first time in Bollywood movies.”
Along similar lines, Darshana Ramgiri, a fashion blogger and content creator with cerebral palsy, shared that it was a bold move to cast an actor with a disability. “I love being in front of the camera but I did not know until this that it was possible to become an actor because of my disability. Seeing him play this role had a positive impact on me,” she shared.
Not only inspiration porn
In many Bollywood films which have a disabled character, we see them fall into two broad categories: they “overcome” their disability to thrive or they are sad and depressed people who hate their disability. Creating this binary of disabled people’s lives has adverse consequences on how society treats disabled people. Either as accomplished as Stephen Hawking, someone who deserves respect and attention or as a nobody, someone who is not trying hard enough.
For Candice, Jalsa shifted away from this stereotypical, uni-dimensional representation of disabled people. She said,
“The character of Ayush moves away from the trope of portraying disabled characters as either super high achieving adults like in The Theory Of Everything with Stephen Hawking’s character or people who are depressed and/or suicidal, as in Guzaarish.
It shows an everyday teen with a disability facing those challenges without any exaggerated stereotype.”
Shweta Ghosh, Documentary Filmmaker, Lecturer and Practice-based researcher at University of Reading, spoke about how films with characters with disability must challenge these stereotypes. She said, “Disabled characters can be written keeping in mind the aesthetics of ordinariness too, as discussed by Catalina Brylla, where disability is one part (albeit an important part) of many identities and experiences they have. A good example of this in the Indian context is the disabled character Pradeep in Sairat, whose disability is visible and is discussed in the film through his pursuit of love, but that isn't the only reason the character exists!” She added that as a friend, he is seen having fun with his friends, having an opinion on matters outside of just his disability.
By showing us a character with a disability in the film going about his life, doing every day things like watching TV, playing games, studying, and interested in going to the beach, Jalsa makes huge strides in steering us away from exceptionalising disabled people, and bringing alive a more realistic portrayal. Darshana, in our conversation, shared that for her seeing a disabled person be themselves on screen is vastly different. “For me, I always knew while watching Kalki Koechlin in her role in Margarita With A Straw that she was just acting, so I couldn’t connect with the character. But watching Surya in the film, I felt seen; it was even a little overwhelming. It made me realise I too can do this if I get the opportunity,” said Darshana.
This idea resonated with Candice who felt that careers in glamorous fields are often seen as not options for disabled people. “This film can truly affirm to a disabled person that they can break this boundary. I also think it is important because movies play a very important role in influencing how the world sees certain things, including politics, disability, gender,” she added.
While applauding this move of casting a disabled actor, Ghosh pointed out that there are many traps of morality that the movie falls into around disability. She felt that for the audience, Ayush’s character steered us towards feeling scared for him or pointing out his vulnerability or even his maturity in times of crisis. She stated, “Both Vidya Balan and Shefali Shah's characters hit rock bottom when they say something mean/harmful or intend to do something mean/harmful to Ayush's character, so there is some level of 'goodness' or innocence attributed to Ayush. So the disabled character still exists to serve the non disabled characters' arcs, and doesn't entirely have one of his own.”
Improving disability representation needs more work
For Candice, having better and more disability representation in films is crucial if we wish to shift perceptions around disability. This included having disabled people participate in the process of acting and filmmaking. She said, “If disabled actors cannot play able-bodied characters, able-bodied actors cannot be allowed to play disabled characters.”
Ghosh, who made We Make Film, a film about the work of disabled and d/Deaf filmmakers in urban India, highlighted that representation must go beyond actors with disability to understanding the role of accessibility in the film viewing experience, film education as well as film technology. This will then ensure more practice and less talk.
She said, “Change cannot happen without the active support and education of non disabled people in the film industry and film academia, and we need to be willing to reflect on ableist and exclusionary aesthetics and practices. This includes moving away from complete independence, long work hours as the default expectation, and moving towards interdependence when seeking to build inclusive film sets and creative experiences.”
Jalsa is streaming on Amazon Prime Video India.
Srinidhi Raghavan is a disabled feminist, writer, researcher and educator. She works at the intersections of sexuality, gender, disability and technology. Her work focusses on deepening conversations around sexuality, on rights of persons with disabilities and building more spaces where disabled people can thrive. She is Co-Leads Programmes at Rising Flame.
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