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The Hindu
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Five films that got neurodivergence right, and why ‘Sitaare Zameen Par' might join them
On the cusp of Sitaare Zameen Par's release this Friday, the freshly invigorated conversation around neurodivergence in cinema feels long overdue. Marketed as a spiritual sequel to Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan's latest venture brings ten neurodivergent individuals into the spotlight as people with stories of their own. That this release follows Autistic Pride Day 2025 feels quite timely. For too long, neurodivergent characters in cinema have either been flattened into saintly savants or trapped in caricature. Their complexities are also often sanded down for neurotypical comfort. But if autistic pride teaches us anything, it's that the real challenge is the lens through which the world insists on viewing the disability, rather than the disabilty itself. So, in honour of June 18, and of a film that is trying to imagine something more inclusive, we revisit five films that have portrayed neurodivergence with empathy, nuance, and a refusal to tidy up their themes. A Beautiful Mind Ron Howard's classic biographical drama A Beautiful Mind was an earnest attempt at making sense of schizophrenia—for both the person inside the condition and the people orbiting him. Russell Crowe's John Nash does succumb to certain tortured genius tropes but they rarely exist in a vacuum. He's a husband, a colleague, and a man trying to trust what's real when reality keeps shifting under his feet. The film's actual trick isn't the twist about his hallucinations; rather, it's the manner in which it presents love, routine, and stubborn willpower. It's messy and it simplifies things, but at its core it's a genuine effort to portray what it means to live with, and not despite, mental illness. Margarita with a Straw Shonali Bose's Margarita with a Straw steers clear of syrupy inspirational blurbs and gives us a bildungsroman that's brimming with life. Kalki Koechlin plays Laila, a young woman with cerebral palsy, who wants the same things everyone else does — love, sex, independence — and the film lets her want them without judgment or pity. Bose subverts both Western and desi stereotypes of disability by making Laila's neurodivergence the engine that propels her and the narrative across continents, into relationships, and towards a vivid understanding of her own queerness. My Name is Khan My Name is Khan is often heavy-handed, but it comes from a place of real compassion. The film centres on a man with Asperger's syndrome in a geopolitical epic, and does so with a degree of earnest dignity rarely afforded to neurodivergent characters in mainstream Indian cinema. Shah Rukh Khan avoids caricaturising Rizwan, and shapes him by the way he sees the world with deep empathy. Finding Dory Finding Dory reflects a long-standing Pixar tradition of addressing social issues under the guise of children's entertainment. The film treats the talkative, titular Blue Tang fish with short-term memory loss with sincerity. She forgets things, but she also adapts, repeats, invents workarounds and 'keeps swimming'. The film isn't about curing her or changing her, but about the fish around her learning to understand and support her. Everything Everywhere All at Once Everything Everywhere All at Once feels exactly like what it's like to live in a brain that doesn't always play by the rules. In fact, one of the directing duo, Daniel Kwan, came to realise his own undiagnosed ADHD during the writing process. Evelyn and Joy are never explicitly labelled, but the film's take on identity, perception, and meaning feels deeply familiar to anyone who's ever felt like their mind is a bit too loud. The multiverse here is a metaphor for every 'what if' and 'should have been' that clutters the average ADHD brain. The film leaves us with the tender thought that maybe clarity isn't about fixing the noise, but learning how to sit with it.
Hindustan Times
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Shonali Bose shares how she channelised the pain of losing her mum in Amu
Filmmaker Shonali Bose was just 21 when she lost her mother, Junie Dass, in 1986, a tragedy that profoundly shaped her life and artistic journey. This immense personal loss became a recurring undercurrent in her storytelling. 'Losing her at 21 was devastating and painful — it changed my life,' Shonali recalls, adding, 'I explored mother-daughter relationships and the theme of death across Amu (2005), Margarita with a Straw (2014), and The Sky is Pink (2019). With Amu specifically, we intentionally wrote a story around a mother daughter to tap into my pain and write from an honest place. I believe that if you can write from the depths of your pain - that can be powerful.' Also Read: Miranda House objects to Shonali Bose's 'Ziddi Girls', makers issue 'fiction' disclaimer In her debut film Amu, Shonali cast her maternal aunt Brinda Karat in a pivotal role. One emotionally charged scene required Brinda's character, Keya, to reveal Amu's (played by Konkona Sen Sharma) origin story — a moment that required Brinda to tap into the pain of losing her sister. 'Brinda had already delivered two brilliant takes' Shonali recounts, adding, 'But hours later, at around 2 a.m., when it was her cue again, she couldn't emote, she was just numb. No matter what I said she couldn't tear up. Then I got an idea. The scene was in an ambassador car and I was crouched under the seat. After calling action I did a sense memory exercise and talked Brinda through the memory of the last moments of my mother's (her sister) life before the plug was pulled in Breach Candy ICU. And she couldn't hold back the tears. When I called cut and came out of the car I saw that my sound recordist and designer Resul Pookutty was sobbing too — he had heard every word through his headphones.' A post shared by Shonali Bose (@shonalibose_) This deeply personal emotion extended into her later work as well. In Margarita with a Straw, Shonali recreated the raw emotion she had experienced in 1986. 'When Revathy's character dies in the hospital and Kalki's (Koechlin) character rushes out in her wheelchair, wailing — that was me, just as I did when my mamma died in 1986,' she shares, adding, 'For years Mother's Day was painful for me. And then I gave birth to Ishan and became a mamma myself. And would love the cards he would hand paint for me that I still have,' she shares. Shonali lost Ishan at just 16 years old in 2010. This life-altering loss found expression in her 2019 film The Sky is Pink. 'His death took me to another place… I felt a deep peace about death. In The Sky is Pink, the character played by Priyanka (Chopra Jonas; actor) wears a vibrant pink scarf to her daughter's funeral. Just as I had worn red. To celebrate. Not mourn. It marked the end of a marathon. A journey,' Shonali ends.
Indian Express
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
‘Now, if mama has to go to work, she deals with it': Kalki Koechlin shares tips to balance time between mother and baby
Actor Kalki Koechlin gave birth to her daughter Sappho during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they spent the first seven months holed up at home due to the lockdown. 'There was no pressure to go back to my tiny body because people didn't see me, and we all know actors are always expected to look a certain way. While it initially felt like the stomach would never go, I did eventually get my body back after a year,' the Margarita with a Straw actor told Hindustan Times digital in a recent interview. Her postpartum phase was not without obstacles, and she found it extremely difficult to have some kind of a routine because she was 'too busy breastfeeding, cooking and cleaning.' 'My priority was just sleeping,' added the actor. During the candid conversation, Koechlin shared some tips on how to balance parenting while finding time for oneself. Get creative 'She didn't understand that boundary when I worked from home, eventually. It was challenging when she couldn't access me for a few hours. My partner (Guy Hershberg) has sometimes taken colouring pencils and paper along with her to parking spaces under our building, so she's excited and distracted. It took some creative thinking as parents. Now, if Mama has to go to work, she deals with it,' Koechlin told the publication. Staying away from phones 'We're all attached to our phones, but my rule now is to keep mine in a separate room when I sleep. I have a proper alarm clock that wakes me up, though my daughter does it before that (laughs). This ensures that I'm present while finishing my daily routine, I don't even check my phone before that,' she explained. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kalki Koechlin (@kalkikanmani) According to her, parental anxiety is real, along with general anxiety. 'I have accessed a lot of therapy in the last couple of years, which has helped a lot. I have also understood that I cannot solve everything,' she added. Rima Bhandekar, Psychologist at Mpower Helpline, Aditya Birla Trust, said that Kalki 's style of parenting focuses on providing children ample independence and distance to develop and at same time support when required. It is very different from helicopter parenting where parents are around all the time. Such kind of parenting lets children know that their assistance is available when wanted by the children. This style of parenting is about balancing independence with care. According to Bhandekar, this helps children start handling challenges themselves without expecting parents to scoop in for them. Their confidence develops gradually through trial-and-error learning, and they know they can succeed after initial failure. 'Children develop understanding of various situations and how they feel in those, and how to face others with confidence,' she added. Staying away from phones ensures quality time being spent between the mother and baby without any distractions. This makes the child feel like they are a priority in their caregiver's life. Working parents will need support and keep open pathways of communication with their children when parents are away at work, and involve children in the process of decision making about small but important things when they are at home.
