AT 27, VISUALLY CHALLENGED PRIYESH JAIN HAS DIRECTED TELE FILM ROSHNI

Jyothi Venkatesh

To Priyesh Jain ought to go the credit of being the first ever blind person perhaps in the entire world who has directed a 45 minute long telefilm called Roshni. Produced by Vanita Kitawat, the subject of Roshni has been written by Priyesh at the young age of just 27. It stars Anant Mahadevan, late Reeta Bhaduri and Pooja Seth in key roles and is based on the sensitive issue of nuclear atom bomb, wars and global peace and harmony

 “We talk of war. We get excited when we listen to the Word War. But tell me how many are aware of the fact that when one nuclear bomb explodes in a city like say Mumbai, the entire city will be wiped out in a jiffy? Though we have spent centuries to make this world what it is today, it is a tragedy that we are heading towards doomsday with our pursuit to make nuclear weapons”, asks Priyesh.

According to Priyesh, though the world refers to him as a blind person, he has always believed that he can see ‘mentally’ because he can imagine and portray what he imagines on celluloid. “Because people tell me that I’m visually impaired, I am close to the word Blind. I decided upon Roshni as the title for my film because I am of the opinion that the word which people think is distant as far as I am concerned, is in fact close to me – Roshni.”

Roshni is actually based on a One Act Play called Umeed in Hindi staged in Sophia College in 1996 at the Youth Kaleidoscope. Incidentally, Priyesh had directed the play too and also won the award for The Best Play and The Best Concept.

“I have always experimented with different ideas in life. All the other blind students used to think that sociology and history will be ideal for them but I took up Economics as the major subject in Arts. Similarly I thought that when I set out to direct a play, I shouldn’t play safe and tackle a run-of-the-mill subject and hence chose to write and stage Roshni which deals with a thought provoking social issue, ” exults Priyesh.

Initially, Priyesh concedes that people did make fun of him. It continued till he went on the floors with his script and made his artistes realize where they were at fault as actors and what exactly they were supposed to perform.

When Priyesh staged the play during SNDT Mahotsav way back in 1996, some of the girls who were acting in the play were under the impression that since Priyesh is blind, instead of performing during the rehearsals, they could get away by just sitting and lazily reading out their lines from the paper but Priyesh caught up after just sniffing their expressions and asked them not to read out their lines like parrots but speak them out from their heart, with proper expressions, because as he puts it, “ I could ‘see’ the voices coming from a little bit down and not from up from face to face and hence I could make out that the girls were just reading their lines like parrots.” Needless to say, the girls were astonished and also ashamed of themselves.

Except movement blocking, Priyesh does all his home work the previous night before a play is staged.” I plan what gestures I want for which particular dialogue, and also what one’s face should look like. In short I prepare the entire scene and how it should look like”, Priyesh adds nonchalantly as a matter of fact. “There were many who used to take advantage of my blindness or misread my intelligence. What was worse is that many used to think that I’m actually feigning to be blind, because according to them I have never even banged on to any door in my day to day life.

”People even wondered how could I gauge people’s expressions or extend my hand for a handshake properly without faltering even for a second. However I was very touched and overwhelmed when three girls –Brinda, Anuvi and Raakhi came up to me and told me that they wished they could donate their eyes to me because they did not know how to communicate with me .They have also written a public service 3 minute short film on eye donation to be directed by myself .We are planning to approach Saurav Ganguly to act in it to spread the message that one should donate one’s eyes after death. The script has been approved by the National Association for the Blind. The film has been woven around a tiny baby, who without her eye sight is helpless in this world. I drive home the message through the film that though the blind can do many things, and having eyes does make a world of a difference.”

“My parents have given me all liberty as if I am a sighted person. My film Roshni as well as the 3 minute short film on eye donation both will be my silent tributes to my parents who never even once gave me the feeling that I am blind by birth. Today even though I am blind, I know whether someone wants to avoid me or not from the way he or she talks just by interpreting his or her expression,”quips Priyesh, who at one vulnerable stage of his life, was crest-fallen when the girl he had loved decided to ‘ditch’ him just because he was blind and opted for marriage with a sighted person after carrying on with him for a couple of years.

Priyesh feels that people in India only pay lip service when it comes to encouraging disabled people. “I approached satellite channels like Zee and B4U with my film but no one was ready to give me a platform to show my film. I do not want any channel to pay me for my film. I am even ready to raise sponsors with the help of my friends who are well paced in life, if we are given air time on any channel. I hope some channel or the other comes forward to give me an opportunity to create history and also show to the world that I may be blind but then I am not finished.

Ideally I’d like to show Roshni on any channel whether it is Doordarshan or for that matter any satellite channel  either on  August 6 when Hiroshima was bombed or August 9 when Nagasaki was bombed. Will I get the opportunity or will my film also be buried with me when I die?” asks Priyesh in anguish. Incidentally, Priyesh , who is now 47  years old , is a happily married to Reshmi for the past 13 years.

Will any satellite channel rise up to the occasion and create a ‘tehelka’ for this blind man who does not make you feel that he is blind at all?  Your guess is as good as mine!