My project was an animation film in which I attempted to bring out the latent prejudices and dogmas prevalent in society about persons with physical impairments and disabilities, and how people wrongly lay a premium on physical appearance.
The film is a metaphorical statement on various physical impairments and disabilities. My story is about a girl with dwarfism, Asha, who lives with her grandmother. Her grandmother is anxious about her short stature and growth, since the girl is not keeping pace in height with other people her age, and comes up with simplistic solutions. But, all these attempts do not help to minimize Asha’s situation. The story is about the trials and tribulations which Asha has to go through, and how she learns to accept herself and be comfortable with who she is. The turning point in her life happens when she meets a person who is unusually tall and who has his own set of typical problems to deal with in life.
I have emphasized how such attitudes impact persons with physical impairments themselves, work as barriers to their self-development, make them look at themselves through the same lens as others and undermine themselves.
The film employs almost no dialogue or voice over narration; it is left mainly to visuals to convey the story line. Hence, I relied almost exclusively on facial expressions and body language to spell out the major points of the plot. The film is brought out by its distortion of shape, line and form, particularly with regard to the human figures.
Having gone through the making of this film, I have been able to explore and break through the restricted boundaries of animation as a powerful medium to explore, collaborate, learn, share and communicate.
