Kolkata: Dulal Sarkar, the winner of IFFI best actor award for ‘Chhotoder Chhobi’, which deals with dwarfs, regerts that people like him were not considered as physically challeged.
Recalling his own bitter experience once in a bus in Kolkata, Dulal said he had been forced to quit the seat reserved for the handicapped.
“Though I was carrying a card which said I was 60 per cent handicapped, a youth forced me to vacate the seat shouting ‘a dwarf can’t be a physically challenged person’ and he was supported by all other passengers. I tripped and fell on the floor in my hury and some of them laughed,” he said.
He also narrated how he had been laughed at once by classmates when he stood up to speak.
Recalling the experience when he first heard that he had been awarded the best actor award in the IFFI, Dulal said, “The news took time to sink in. I immediately called up my mother and I could sense she was weeping in joy.”
The director of the film, Kaushik Ganguly, said, “It is unfortunate that nothing in this world is made to suit their size including the bus. I was familiar with their plight since childhood.”
The famed director said it was nothing but a social disgrace the way people looked down upon short-height people.
Kaushik, the maker of IFFI award-winning films like ‘Arekti Premer Galpo’ and ‘Apur Panchali’, said, “‘Chhotoder Chhobi’, which will be released by April next year, will change people’s perception about dwarfs I guess.”
To a question, the director said that the film was not directly inspired by any real-life incident, but like all forms of art it retained references to social reality.
PTI
