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Friday, Jul 03, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Real life reflected in reel life

A still from ‘Ningi Nela Naadhe’

Film: Ningi Nela Naadhe

Cast: Lei Qingyao, Yang Jing, Qina Ritu

Direction: Feng Zhenzhi

Ningi Nela Naadhe is a must watch. Few movie-going experiences will offer as cathartic and extraordinary a journey as one finds in the dubbed version of the Chinese film “Invisible Wings”. It is a true story of Lei Qingyao who as Zhi Hua plays her real life role on reel, a teenage girl who loses her hands after a high voltage electric shock. Intelligently and effectively executed by director Feng Zhenzhi, it is a saga of friendship, love, personal fortitude, en durance and above all the triumph of human spirit.

Zhi Hua helps her parents make kites for a living and one day while at play, she attempts to disentangle a kite on an electric pole, and is electrocuted, loses her arms. Her parents shower affection and encourage her to lead an independent life but somewhere they feel insecure about their daughter’s future. Meanwhile, she learns to eat with chopsticks, writes, brushes her teeth with her foot with amazing alacrity. She even cycles her way to the boarding school, picks flowers, cooks and does everything that a normal human does without any trace of being morose and upset.

Pillar of strength

She not only overcomes her physical disability but also mental and emotional inadequacies and becomes a pillar of strength and support to her family.

There are tender scenes of mother-daughter bond, very realistically picturised and the director even shows that Zing Hua is blessed with a sense of humour, that surfaces once in a while, she is basically presented as young lady who is averse to sympathy but doesn’t hesitate to seek help from her friends when she wants to learn something …be it her studies or cycling.

Zing Hua wants to join the university, study medicine but when she doesn’t get seat that year, her mother goes insane and is found dead in a lake one day. Eventually she is shown as becoming a swimming champion, and even gets an admission in medicine.

Universal appeal

The film ends with Zing Hua screaming to her mother above that she has secured a seat in the university.

There are many courageous people like Sudha Chandran who with the help of Jaipur foot became a reel and real life heroines or Pranita, the acid attack victim who scored a distinction, in B.Tech have inspired weak minded people through their saga of self-confidence.

The 93-minute film has a universal appeal, is a celebration of human persistence and courage, it has won the Golden Elephant at the 15th International Children’s Film Festival.

Y.SUNITA CHOWDHARY

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