Kalki Koechlin’s extraordinarily convincing performance in Shonali Bose’s Margarita With A Straw, as a girl stricken with cerebral palsy, brings to light the way our cinema portrays the disabled. Here is looking at some of the other best
Salman Khan in Tere Naam: You could doubt the medical authenticity of this cock-and-bull story. But the angst in Khan’s eyes as he lapsed in a dungeon-styled dementia (chains in the hands and feet) and the pain of unrequited love stayed with you. A
Rajesh Khanna in Khamoshi: After a break-up, Rajesh Khanna comes to a mental asylum to be cured by nurse Waheeda Rehman who has the hots for him. The performance was remarkably controlled... no hysterical laughter, no nervous twitches or a pointed
Smita Patil
Jaya Bhaduri & Sanjeev Kumar in Koshish: Frighteningly real as a deaf-and-mute couple trying to lead a normal life. Wonder why only Sanjeev was rewarded with the National award when Jaya was every bit as brilliant, if not better.
Sridevi in Sadma: As the child-woman suffering from amnesia, Sridevi pouted, preened and pirouetted without looking monstrously hammy. Her performance was cute, endearing heartwarming and utterly authentic.
Hrithik Roshan in Koi... Mil Gaya: Though he didn’t play a psychologically challenged character, Hrithik proved himself one of the finest actors of the pre- and post-Bachchan era, playing the autistic child-man in his dad’s Koi... Mil Gaya.
Priyanka Chopra in Barfi: As the autistic Jhilmil in Anurag Basu’s gentle and joyful film, Priyanka Chopra brings to her role the kind of elegant edginess that very few actors in India have managed while playing psychologically special human beings
Celebs who brilliantly portrayed the specially-abled in Bollywood