Mumbai: On January 5, Disability Rights Group (DRG), led by activist Javed Abidi condemned director Bejoy Nambiar’s remarks on “limiting” Amitabh Bachchan’s character in wheelchair.
At an event, the filmmaker spoke about Amitabh Bachchan’s portrayal as a paralysed chess Grandmaster. Bejoy Nambiar had said, "Right from the beginning, we knew that the protagonist had to be on a wheelchair. Casting Mr Bachchan, who has got such a strong persona and limiting him in a wheelchair, was a big task for us to get used to."
The Disability Rights Group demanded an apology for the filmmaker's "disparaging" comments.
On Tuesday, DRG issued a statement that read: "Mr. Nambiar’s comments are disparaging and extremely condescending towards people with disabilities, and highlights his complete lack of knowledge and extremely archaic and derogatory perspectives that he has on disability".
Later, the film’s team apologised for hurting anyone's sentiments and also clarified that they meant no malice.
The film also stars Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari, Neil Nitin Mukesh and John Abraham. It is all set to release on 8th January 2016.
