Well I agree! But, there are beggers of all kinds all over! But, interestingly, I guess blindness is a mystery and therefore film makers also get away with blind beggers. But, surely there have to be bollywood films showing the amazingly great things blind people are achieving and doing. So they can also project these huge success stories as well, keeping us not all good and not all bad. Somewhere where everyone else is there!
Preeti Monga Chief Executive Officer Inspiring INCLUSION! Fostering DIGNITY! Mobile : 91 9871701646 Landline : 011 22781446 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.silver-linings.org Connect With Us : -----Original Message----- From: AccessIndia [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of avinash shahi Sent: Friday, December 19, 2014 3:44 PM To: accessindia; jnuvision; sayeverything Subject: [AI] Lets discuss: Acting blind to beg on Delhi streets earned him 5 seconds of fame Over the years blind people in India have made outstanding strides in different professions, however its utterly disgusting to see cinema bigwigs refuse to note such trend. Depiction of blind people as beggars holding bowl waiting alms is still dominant in the psychy of Bombay-based moviemakers which needs to be busted. Hope to hear from the listers. http://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/acting-blind-to-beg-ge ts-assam-youth-role-in-pk/article1-1297928.aspx Call it blind luck. Manoj Roy (Photo: Dhrubajyoti Nath) Feigning blindness ensured Manoj Roy a few extra coins in his begging bowl. The act was good enough for a life-changing role in Rajkumar Hirani's film PK that releases Friday. Manoj, 39, is from Bedeti in north-central Assam's Sonitpur district. Son of a daily wager who lost his mother soon after birth, he dropped out of school to beg after his daily-wager father fell too sick to work. Twenty years ago, he boarded a train to Delhi seeking a job. But he fell back on what he was good at - acting blind, begging bowl in hand. "I was a regular at Jantar Mantar. A few months ago, two gentlemen approached me and asked if I could act. I told them acting is what I do to ensure two square meals. They gave me a phone number and a Rs. 20 note before leaving," Manoj said from his village. Something told him not to ignore the number. The person who picked up the phone asked him to go to Nehru stadium. "I went the very next day and found myself among members of a film unit. I was taken aside for an audition with seven other beggars, all visually impaired. I cared little about the film or the actors; it was the free food that mattered, for a week till my selection," he said. The seriousness of the whole thing dawned on Manoj when he was put up in a five-star hotel in Delhi. "I used to often go without bath in the slums because of scarcity of water. There I was, cooling off in the hotel's swimming pool, and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma," he said. Manoj's brief for the film was to beg by the roadside leaning on a stick, waiting for Aamir to come along dancing and stealing some coins from his bowl. The promo scene lasts five seconds. But it is long enough for Manoj to come home to a hero's welcome. "I returned to my village with the money earned from the film. I have a job in a village shop, a Facebook account and a girlfriend too. People now call me PK Honey Singh. This is all because of the film," he said. What next? Maybe acting in Assamese and Bengali movies, he said. For the time being, he has set his sights on meeting his girlfriend for the first time on Christmas. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Clean India Campaign: Let us also chip in! Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessind ia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. Clean India Campaign: Let us also chip in! Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
