The Hindu Business Line : A film screening with a difference

Hyderabad, Nov. 19 Sai Prasad, Mahesh, Akhilesh and Tejaswi are among the 200 school children who have visualised the movie Kabhi Pass Kabhi Fail in 200 different ways.

They could only imagine as they are visually challenged.

But unlike those at the four screens of Prasad’s IMAX multiplex who could only watch whatever the director had visualised, each of those assembled at the conference hall of Devnar School for the Blind had reconstructed their own movie as the child prodigy Robin wins hearts in the film.

“I imagined Robin to be my schoolmate, solving difficult mathematical problems in a jiffy,” a student says.

The visually challenged students might have listened to several movies in television channels at their homes. But what is new here is, silences in the films are not a hurdle for them in understanding the theme.

Helping in their imaginary voyages, the director has explained all the silences in the film, trying to recreate the scene for the children. If Robin goes to the beach, to the dining table or stares at the star-lit sky, without talking or conversing, a soothing voice would explain – filling up the gaps. The names of the actors, technicians, playback singers and the director were read out by the voiceover.

“I enjoyed the jokes,” Sai Prasad says, asked how did he find the movie.

There was another screening (of Karamati Coat) in the morning at M S Gupta School at Santoshnagar for the visually-challenged children in that part of the city.

Missing

But what is missing is empathy. Neither the Children’s Film Society nor the State Government thought it fit to send a representative there.

They didn’t choose to spare a banner or an inflatable ‘Golden Elephant’ for the school. Also, there was none to give the introduction (as they do at the IMAX multiplex screens), before starting the screening.

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