Over a thousand visually and hearing impaired children got a chance to enjoy and relive the Bollywood classic Sholay on Saturday morning at the Siri Fort Auditorium in a special inclusive screening as the film completed its 43 years.
The screening with audio-description, subtitles and sign-language interpretation made for a delightful watch for the children from various blind and deaf schools, NGOs and other institutions across Delhi NCR.
Saksham Trust with the support of Sapient and The Directorate of Film Festivals organised the most inclusive screening of Sholay. Saksham Trust has audio-described 28 Bollywood films and were honoured with a National Award in 2015 for their efforts in the field of education, assistive technology solutions and inclusive entertainment.
Veteran voice artist and documentary filmmaker Narendra Joshi audio-described Sholay. He says, “Audio descriptor of a film acts as a bridge between the director and the audience. Describing a film requires a thorough understanding of the director’s mind-set. This helps in writing the audio description script and the writer must also keep in mind the points of view of the visually impaired audience to re-create the magic on the screen in the minds of the visually impaired audience."
The initiative was undertaken to promote audio-description, subtitles and sign-language interpretations for every movie screening. Founder of Saksham Trust and President of Daisy Forum of India, Dipendra Manocha says, “Our vision is that audio description must become part of the production of every movie made in India so that this facility is available on the very first day of the release of the movie helping the simple act of entertainment more inclusive. It should be a treat for everybody."
Co-founder of Saksham, Rummi Seth says, “We would not have been able to take this extremely important initiative forward without the support of Sapient and The Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, who have realized the importance of this endeavour and helped us to make cinema accessible and provide wholesome entertainment to the visually impaired person."
