In a welcome move towards making films accessible to people with
disabilities the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has directed the Film
Producers’ Association and the Central Bureau of Film Certification to use
audio description and closed captioning in all films that are releasing
across more than 500 screens. That news development is our focus on
#StoryOfTheWeek.
“It is a matter of concern that people with disabilities are unable to
enjoy recreational activities of media and entertainment due to challenges in
vision, hearing or comprehension resulting in their exclusion. The Rights of
Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 stipulates that the Government shall take
measures to develop, technology, assistive devices and equipment to
facilitate access and inclusion for persons with disabilities in recreational
activities”
Will this 2 October 2019 notification by the Information and
Broadcasting Ministry to the Film Producers
Association and the Central Bureau of Film Certification
(CBFC) pave the way towards making India’s most popular form of
entertainment accessible to disabled audiences?
The Ministry directive goes on to urge film producers to “motivate and
persuade” associated members to “make Audio Description (AD) a part of the
production and distribution process of a film itself”.
Speaking to NewzHook, Anil Nagrath, of the
Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA) said
that the details of the directive have been forwarded to all film producers’.
We are treating this as an advisory and have informed all the producers.
Let me also make it clear this is possible for big budget film producers
only. For small budget films, this is not possible, especially when there
are so many languages involved. We definitely want to include people with
disabilities but AD cost a lot of money and needs endorsement from the
censors as well. This is practical for films that have budgets running into
crores. – Anil Nagrath, Secretary, Indian Motion Picture Producers’
Association (IMPPA).
Sangeeta Robinson, Head Sustainability and Inclusion PVR
Cinemas who has been widely credited for her work around inclusive
entertainment at PVR points out that “as per conventional estimates, there
are approximately 12 million and 18 million visually impaired and hearing
impaired people respectively in our country. This move by the Ministry of
I&B has the potential of opening up an all-new world to them in addition
to providing the opportunity to serve the unserved population of our
country.”
India’s largest multiplex chain, PVR Cinemas has taken the
lead when it comes to making films accessible for people with mobility,
hearing and visual challenges with its Accessible Cinema Program. “As you are
aware, PVR is committed to providing access to everyone under its #Cinema4All
program rolled out last year when we announced 50 wheelchair-friendly cinemas
to commemorate World Disability Day (3 December 2018)”, said Gautam
Dutta, CEO PVR Limited. “We have also been supporting and exhibiting
films with AD since August 2018 with the help of the XL Cinema App as well as
marking subtitled shows on our website and app. We welcome this move by the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and are well prepared to stream
films with AD and Captions.”.
Till date, PVR has exhibited the films Sanju, Andhadun, Thackrey
and Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW) with AD through the XL
Cinema App as inclusive shows. The AD for these was provided either
by NGO Saksham or the app. Visually impaired filmgoers can
download the app on their smartphones and listen to the AD through headphones
connected to their smartphones.
XL Cinema app co-founder Kunal Prasad, who was present at
the stakeholders’ meeting with the I&B Ministry says the response to the
app shows the huge potential.
“There have been a total of 45,000 downloads of the XL Cinema App so far, of
which 12,000 was visually impaired people for these films. All these films
received average views of 4,000-5,000 by visually impaired people and we
believe that if we are able to raise the funds and mainstream it, the numbers
would be even higher. When you see the reviews by visually impaired people
and their responses to the movies, you can see that it has been accepted
well”.
The Ministry intervention, he goes on to say, will finally see the law being
implemented. “Sections 41 and 42 of the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities Act 2016 clearly mention that electronic content must
be made accessible with AD and closed captions. Right now it’s in the nature
of an advisory but this will soon become an implementation of the law once
the modalities are worked out. I&B Minister Prakash
Jawdekar was very sensitive to the fact that this should come into
force and I believe that it will in the near future”.
Among those to support this directive is disability rights advocate
Nipun Malhotra who has been petitioning to make this a
reality for long. In a Facebook post, Nipun said, “Thrilled
that after multiple representations and RTIs by me and various other
representatives in the disability sector, the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting has taken positive steps to include audio descriptions for the
blind in movies”.
Independent filmmaker Bela Negi says that to encourage more
film producers to embrace accessibility, the regulations should be imposed in
a way that they don’t become a liability for filmmakers. “Perhaps if there
were some concessions for films complying with these guidelines then it would
motivate more people to do it. One way could be for these films to be
promoted with tax concessions”
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