Chennai Persons with disability protest insensitive portrayal in films
Staff Reporter They want censor board to remove abusive words and references - PHOTO: M.Karunakaran Persons with disability staging a protest in Chennai on Saturday. CHENNAI: Persons with disability staged a protest on Saturday condemning insensitive and misleading portrayal of their community members in mainstream Tamil cinema. The protestors demanded that use of derogatory language to address persons with disability be censored. V. Maruthamuthu, Salem district secretary of the Tamil Nadu Handicapped Persons' Association, demanded that the Central Board of Film Certification act immediately to remove abusive words and references used to address the community. "Will the Censor Board allow film-makers to show unlimited violence in the guise of portraying the truth," he wondered? His specific reference was to movie 'Naan Kadavul,' which had shown a visually challenged girl opting for death to overcome her sufferings. "Already discrimination against persons with disability is high. With the film justifying mercy killing of persons with disability, several people may consider it alright to exercise that option, which is dangerous," said K. Gopinath, member of the Tamil Nadu Welfare Board for the Disabled. He also drew attention to other movies such as 'Dancer,' 'Perazhagan' and 'Polladavan' which had shown persons with disability in poor light, but got away with it. Date:22/03/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/03/22/stories/2009032260290400.htm To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in 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