CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES RELATED TO THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED THROUGH THE STUDY OF SRIKANTH

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to study Tushar Hiranandani’s film Srikanth (2024), which is inspired by the real-life events of Srikanth Bolla, an industrialist and the chairman of Bollant Industries from the perspective of critical Disability Studies. It highlights the plight of the specially abled in India, the problem of access and equal rights and the stereotypes in the representation of the visually impaired in a medium as powerful as film. The paper seeks to explore how the Indian society ostracises the specially abled persons, especially, the visually impaired. It also analyses how Srikanth battles these stereotypes around the visually impaired and becomes a successful entrepreneur with the help of his teacher, Devika. It also seeks to explain that though he is visually impaired but his disability is the result of the societal and infrastructural barriers and how the filmic representation of his real life story plays a pivotal role in sensitising the masses about the stereotypes related to the visually impaired.