Visually impaired students enjoy Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ thanks to audio

While providing equal opportunities and facilities in employment and education to the specially-abled, it is equally vital to enable them to enjoy diverse forms of entertainment including films available for others.

Keeping this in mind, the Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli District Assistant Collector, S. Gokul organised a special free screening of well-known director Mani Ratnam’s “Ponniyin Selvan”, the Tamil language epic historical action film, on Saturday.

A total number of 200 specially-abled students who have visual impairment were able to enjoy the film thanks to the initiative and efforts of the IAS officer Gokul. Working for the one week continuously with the theatre staff, the officer with the help of the technicians got audio description attached to the movie to help these students. The subtitles in the film were also played out.

Talking to the media Gokul said that as the stress is on equality in access and opportunity for persons with disability, it must be applicable for sports and entertainment too. The film screening is proof of this.

Interestingly, this is the first visit to the theatre for a majority of these students. They were briefed about the cinema hall and the film by the teachers in sign language.

Gokul who is visually impaired himself, hails from Thiruvananthapuram and holds a Master’s degree in English. He cleared the Civil Services exams in 2021.