BOLLYWOOD FILM RAISES DYSLEXIA AWARENESS IN INDIA

A Bollywood film called Taare Zameen Par, (Stars on Earth ) which is about the struggles of an 8-year-old boy with dyslexia was selected as India's entry for the best foreign film category for the 2009 Academy Awards.


The film has helped to raise public awareness about dyslexia in India.

A big hit in India ,the film is about a boy who is told off and punished by teachers and parents for poor test results, and also who is bullied. He is very unhappy until a new arts teacher discovers the boy has dyslexia and encourages him to paint. The Walt Disney Company has bought the rights to the film. This is the first time an international studio has bought the video rights of an Indian film.


Since the release of the film there has been a much greater interest in dyslexia from the Indian general public. A parents dyslexic group called Action Dyslexia Delhi has had 10 times more parents visiting the centre than before !! In West Bengal the film was shown to 4,500 teachers as part of a training session !! The Prime Minister of India watched a private screening of the film and was reported to have been moved by the film and said ' it was a lesson for India's educational system. '

Like Turkey.Indian schools are very competitive, and the education system places a large emphasis on textbook studies rather than on other skills. Teachers mostly see children with learning disabilities as un-teachable and badly behaved. Most Indian schools do not have programmes to help children with learning disabilities, and teachers are generally not trained to deal with the problem , if not completely ignorant of it.

In fact It sounds as if the situation in India concerning dyslexia is not much different from here in Turkey !! It great to hear that this film has helped in some way to raise awareness of the plight of dyslexic kids in India .... I hope that we can get to watch this film soon .....

Rama Lakshmi of The Washington Post has written an interesting article about the impact of the film and how dyslexia has become a household name in India !! The article is entitled ‘The Pain of Dyslexia, As Told by Bollywood’
To see the article go to :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

For more information on the film go to :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taare_Zameen_Par

Official film site:
http://www.taarezameenpar.com/


THANKS TO THE READER WHO TOLD ME ABOUT THIS FILM !!!