by Subhash K Jha

Hindi cinema has suddenly become conscious of the physically and psychologically challenged sections of society.

Consider This:

In Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black Rani Mukherjee plays a deaf-and-blind girl , Amitabh Bachchan her tutor in the film, is going blind and also suffers from Alzheimers disease. A far cry from the way we saw the traditional hero-heroine axis in our films.

Says AB, "It's a sign of our cinema's maturation that we got to see a hero and heroine who weren't romantically involved and who were, in different ways, impaired physically and emotionally."

In Jahnu Barua's Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara Anupam Kher suffers from rapid memory degeneration. The daughter, Urmila Matondkar's trauma is palpable. Anupam studied the history of Alzheimers before plunging into the part.

In Onirban's My Brother Nikhil Sanjay Suri became our first- ever hero to have AIDs. Earlier Rajit Kapur played an HIV Positive in Ek Alag Mausam while Shilpa Shetty and Salman Khan played the same in Revathy's Phir Milenge. But it was Suri who gets the credit for playing the first gay hero in mainstream Hindi cinema.

Recalls Suri, "Initially I just wanted to produce the film. We went to a lot of prominent leading men. When all of them baulked at the idea of playing a gay HIV positive character I had no choice but to come to my own film's rescue.

In Nagesh Kukunoor's Iqbal Shreyas Talpade is a young deaf-and-mute wannabe cricketer who becomes a national champ. Says Nagesh. "We were certainly not inspired by Black. Iqbal doesn't even dwell on the physical deficiencies of the protagonist. It moves ahead of the handicap ."

In Siskiyan, Dansh and Rain, the female protagonists are severely traumatized women caught in a web of psychological questions that go back to a rape in their past.

That isn't all. There are several forthcoming films where the protagonist is physically or psychologically handicapped. In new-director Vicky Tejwani's film Sammir Dattani will star as a young man with an amputated leg who is determined to participate in and win the Mumbai marathon.

In Priyadarshan's ready-for-release Kyun Ki Salman Khan is a severely traumatized patient to Dr Kareena Kapoor. In the same director's next film Kareena Kapoor plays a deaf and mute girl.

So are films about the psychologically/physically disabled in vogue ? Says Hansal Mehta, "You really can't make a mental or physical handicap a fashion statement. In Rain Meghna Naidu who's blind keeps her bosom largely uncovered for the camera. This is physical disability combined with voyeurism! We've to guard against sensationalizing sensitive issues."