Movie Screening for Children with Visual & Hearing Impairments and the Under Privileged
Pure Hearts, NGO, is driven by children from various schools in Gurugram, is dedicated to children, and touches upon lives with special needs or belonging to the marginalised segment.
On the occasion of Children’s Day yesterday, Pure Hearts curated a memorable day for these children and its volunteers at the theatre to see the real-life picture of how children from the disability sector come together, giving each other the strength to move ahead in life.
Celebrating Children’s Day in the real sense, the NGO invited 420 children and youngsters from Janta Blind School, Vishwas Foundation, Captain Chand Lal School, and slum children of Hamara Gurukuls to watch movies at PVR DT Mega Mall Cinemas, Gurugram.
For the visually impaired, film ’83’ was screened. The well-known voice-over artist Narendra Joshi gave the voice-over to help children “see’ the movie through his words. Earlier, he had given his selfless service to the cause when the NGO screened Sholay and Munna Bhai for its unique audience. For the others, it was the film Brahmastra screened with subtitles. The film auditoriums were buzzing with the sound of visible excitement to watch the movie and experience the privileged life of the other side. The cinema staff and student volunteers from different schools compassionately came forward to extend their support.
About 420 children enjoyed a memorable and complete movie experience on the big screen with popcorn and their favourite sweets and snacks sponsored by Binge Bakery, Pure Heart volunteers and Scottish High School. The school also extended its service to transport these children to the venue and back.
Deepa George, a Pure Hearts Member, expressed her joy, “it was a heart-warming moment to see the children with visual impairment walk holding each other’s shoulders in a human chain of love and trust; and their laughter and giggles filled the large theatre halls and corridors.”
The children giggled with excitement on their first-ever elevator ride. The sense of a moving elevator created ripples in their stomach, and each one of the children looked thrilled. Life is lived best in experiencing and savouring the little joys of life. After the film screening, children repeated the film’s dialogues. Ms Sangeeta Robison, Chief Sustainability Officer from PVR Cinemas, was present to see all the arrangements for the screening, guiding the staff personally to make the experience of the cinema-goers memorable. She said, “We at PVR work relentlessly to extend ourselves and improve our movie audience’s experience. We have seats reserved for special-needs people in some of our shows; the online booking app gives all the required information. When Pure Hearts approached us for this show, it was an opportunity to ensure everyone could enjoy cinema, bridging disability barriers.” PVR went the extra mile to give tickets at a discount for the screening. The funds were raised by students of various schools in Gurugraom through their rock band concerts in the city.
Floating between overwhelming and underwhelming emotions was the President and Founder of Pure Hearts, Shalu Johar Sahani; she said with a choked voice, “It’s an incredible feeling to be able to facilitate anything for these children. All Pure Heart volunteers bring their high vibrating energies and the best resources available to create memories for all, dissolving boundaries that separate the root of oneness.” ‘Aham Brahmasmi.’
