Bollywood into Diseases - Dyslexia, Alzheimer, Amnesia, Progeria and Asperger
Bollywood these days is setting up a new trend in exploring rare diseases with directors casting big superstars in roles which raises awareness about such hardly known ailments. These movies
not only entertains their audiences but also enlightens them.
First came the movie "Taare Zameen Par" released in 2007 which revolves around an eight-year-old boy suffering from mental disorder called 'dyslexia'. The disease is mainly characterised by difficulties with learning, decoding the word, spelling, reading accurately and fluently. And the movie was a superhit. This movie forced parents who pursuit to make their child shine academically to speculate that their child might be talented in other ways that requires nourishment and right direction.
Ajay Devgan in 2008 came up with his movie "U Me Aur Hum" with the less known disease Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is a brain disorder named after German physician Alois Alzheimer as a progressive and fatal brain disease and has no current cure. This is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. Movie "Black" released in 2005 was also about a blind&deaf girl and his teacher who succumbs to Alzheimer's.
Sooner in 2008 we witnessed "Ghajini" in which the character of Aamir Khan suffers from Amnesia. Amnesia makes the diseased forgetful with a short term memory span that lasts for few minutes.
Most recently in december 2009 we remarked the great performance by Mr. Amitabh Bacchan suffering from a rarest disease Progeria in movie "Paa". Progeria is an accelerated aging disease, while leaving intelligence intact, progeria ages the body many times faster than normal, leaving teens with frail bodies of people nearing 100 years old. The average life expectancy for a child with progeria ranges from 10 yrs to 23 yrs.
Now we are anxiously waiting to watch "My name is Khan" release date 12 February 2010 starring Shah Rukh Khan who suffers from the disease Asperger’s Syndrome (asperger) which is a kind of autism illness and is a neurobiological disorder. This disorder is characterized by difficulty in social interaction. The person suffering from this has normal intelligence and language development, but exhibits autistic-like behaviors and marked deficiencies in social and communication skills.
NGOs and social workers are encouraging this new move of Bollywood, which they say would result in an increase in the awareness and sensitivity among those who were ignorant of such diseases.
4 comments:
These are exotic diseases. Caner and Tuberculosis have become passe. Leprosy, no one dares to touch it. Aids has 2 or 3 films.
sonal, nice to see you back after this gap.
Alzheimer's Disease is a terrible disease that slowly takes our loved ones. It is imperative that we take a united stand against his terrible brain disease and come up with a cure.
Alzheimer's Disease Support Canada
Sonal, nice write-up.
goodluck, passe or curable now?
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