Marathi film 'Yellow' kickstarts film festival for disabled

Filmmaker Mahesh Limaye's National Award winning Marathi film "Yellow", which explores a mother-daughter relationship amid developmental disability and child behaviour , kickstarted the first edition of International Film Festival for the Persons with Disabilities (IFFPwD) here on Tuesday.

Organised by the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities (DEPwD) and union social justice and empowerment ministry in collaboration with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), the three-day film festival for persons with disabilities is taking place here at Siri Fort.

Produced by Riteish Deshmukh and Uttung Thakur, "Yellow", which released in April last year, talks about the ups and downs in the life of Gauri, a mentally disabled child suffering from Down's syndrome.

"The number is growing now of physically challenged kids. So, Uttung asked me to make a film on this issue. We did a lot of research before making this film. While researching we found two things. One is that these types of people need a lot of positive vibes around them. Secondly, they hate sympathy," said Limaye, who was present at the screening along with lead actress Gauri Gadgil.

Apart from Gauri, the film also stars Mrinal Kulkarni, Upendra Limaye and Manoj Joshi among others.

Limaye said that by making "Yellow", he wanted to inspire all the parents, whose children are physically challenged.

The inauguration ceremony of the festival was attended by union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishna Pal Gurjar, Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Secretary Lov Verma, acclaimed lyricist-filmmaker Gulzar, his daughter and director Meghna Gulzar, and theatre personality Sanjana Kapoor.

The festival, which concludes on Thursday, will screen 40 Indian language and International films which comprises of 16 short films, 14 documentaries and 10 features (7 fiction and 3 documentary films).

The closing ceremony of the festival is expected to be attended by union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and film personalities like Vivek Oberoi and Sanjay Suri.