The All India Opthalmological Society (AIOS) has demanded a ban on the screening of the film "Naina" that released Friday, alleging it would mislead people about eye donations.

In the film, actress Urmila Matondkar plays a 20-year-old blinded at the age of five following exposure of her eyes to a solar eclipse. Her eyesight is restored by a cornea transplant.

AIOS president and eye specialist Ajit Sinha said here Friday that blindness caused by exposure to solar eclipse is due to retinal damage and cannot be corrected by corneal grafting.

"What is shown in the film is not only medically incorrect but misleading. The screening of 'Naina' is bound to hit eye donation in India," Sinha told.

He also objected to the film showing Matondkar in the grips of the cornea donor's spirit.

"It's unbelievable how the film creates the myth of an evil-spirited cornea. It will only discourage eye donation as well as corneal transplant because Hindi films influence a large section of the people."

Sinha said AIOS had filed public interest litigations (PILs) in the Mumbai and Delhi high courts for a ban on "Naina".

According to the Eye Bank Association of India, which works to popularise eye donations, only 30,000 people donate eyes annually whereas there is a demand for 100,000 cornea transplants.

The association fears that the film may discourage people from making or accepting eye donations.