After four years, Meghna Gulzar’s short documentary Closer was premiered at the International Film Festival for People with Disability. With her father Gulzar by her side, she explained to Shrabasti Mallik that it was up to the audience to accept films on disability as mainstream
Meghna Gulzar was pregnant when she filmed the 37 minute documentaryCloser four years ago, and it was never meant for public viewing. But when she heard of the first International Film Festival for Person with Disabilities, she herself approached NFDC and wanted her film to be screened.
Through conversations with parents of children affected with developmental disorders, Closer uncovers difficulties and delays in diagnosis or mis-diagnosis of the disorders, the emotional hardships faced by the child and the entire family.
It was made for doctors, nursing staff, psychiatrists but Meghna had a change of heart. “It was not about the change of thought, it was more about finding the avenue or the opportunity. When you get an opportunity, you grab it. For me it is actually a privilege for my film to be able to participate in this festival because I think it is such a wonderful, encouraging and a noble platform. I think it is a noble initiative that has started,” said the director who wishes to see subsequent editions of the festival in the years to come.
“If you look at it in the first year itself, there are participation of over 40 films. So the content as well as material are out there, and people are making films on these issues. But we just need a platform for them to be visible. When one gets that platform, you will see that there is so much material out there and work that is being done in this area,” she added.
Meghna is, however, happy that situations have changed from the time she filmed Closer. She recounted to us how they had to constantly keep reminding the people around not to address someone as blind, deaf, dumb and disabled and instead use terms like visually impaired, speech impaired or specially abled. She said, “It was all about softening those terms and removing the negativity. A few years ago, people had to make an effort to use those terms but now it has become a natural part of their dialogue exchange. We have moved from a place of pity to empathy which is a very big step.”
Minutes before the world premier of Closer, Meghna told us why she named it so. “The wish of all the people I spoke to was ‘don’t segregate us. If you make schools for us, make it inclusive. Put us in normal schools so that our kids can interact with your kids and benefit from that.’ It was all about inclusion into society. Therefore, the word closer,” she said.
When we asked her about films being a medium to create awareness and educate people, she replied, “When we make films like Closer —that is an endeavour in itself. Films become a soft target to what goes wrong in society. People tend to think that whatever is happening in the society, it is because of films. But films do a lot of other work as well and that never gets noticed. I hope that changes because we try and do our bit. At the end of the day, its about appreciating that part as well, rather than knocking down what is wrong.”
It is not that there aren’t films made on disability. Meghna pointed out to movies like Koshish, Khamoshi, Black, Yellow, Margarita, with a Straw, Taare Zameen Par which are made on these issues. “So, its not that work is not being done. We as makers make the film but those films get slotted as an art film or a niche film because of the audience viewing pattern. Now it is up to the audience to come and accept it universally. That will give us strength to make more films like this,” she said.
Gulzar saab, on the other hand, made his feelings very clear. “This is the first step and it is good that such festivals are being organised,” he said. “Khas taur pe society ka ek bohot bada hissa jiski taraf dhyaan dilaya ja raha hai. Aisa nahi hai ke hum jante nahi the, yeh hai ki humara focus waha pe nahi tha. Iss tarah ke festivals ke aane se woh focus society ke uss hisse ki taraf chala jata hai jaha pe kaam karna aur jaha pe dhyaan dena zaroori hota hai. Aur mujhe kayi baar yeh lagta hai ke unhe itni zaroorat nahi thi humari jitna hume zaroorat hai unki. Unhe to parwah hi nahi hai, kaam dekhiye woh jis tarah se karr rahe hai. Aur meri yeh guzarish hai ke National awards mein ek section aise movies ke liye banaya jaye (It is paying attention to a big section of the society. It is not that we do not know about it but we never focussed on it. These kind of festivals shift our focus to that section of the society which requires our special attention and which require work towards their betterment. And there are many times that I feel we need them more than they need us. They are not that bothered and you can see that in the work that they are doing. It is my request that a section of the National award be made for these movies),” he said.