Pramod Bhagat feels it will take time for para-athletes to get visibility in cinema
Despite the ongoing health crisis in the world, para-shuttler Pramod Bhagat continues to focus on his preparation for the first-ever Paralympics. He hopes that the tournament will change the way people look at para-athletes.
After getting postponed last year, the tournament is now scheduled for August, in Tokyo (Japan). “I’m hopeful it’ll happen as per schedule. Sometime back, I had a word with the organisers and they, too, were optimistic about it. It’s a very big opportunity for me as well as for the para-athlete community,” Bhagat tells us.
The 32-year-old, who hails from Attabira in Odisha’s Bargarh district, feels that over the years, a lot has changed for para-athletes, and the rest would change after Paralympics. He’s quite hopeful that soon, Bollywood will also wake up to the presence of para-athletes, and tell stories from their lives. “After Saina Nehwal won a medal in Olympics, badminton became popular as a sport. I think it’ll happen with us also after the tournament,” says Bhagat, who ranked world number one in para-badminton for men’s singles and doubles. “If we set out to find inspiring stories of people, we’d find many. But at this moment, I don’t think it’s possible, at least till the time Paralympics happen this year,” adds the sports icon.
The trend of biopics based on sports personalities has found a permanent place in Bollywood, but he feels not every story clicks with the audience. “Jaisa Milkha Singh ki story ke saath ek emotional quotient bhi aaya tha, jabki Saina ki story sports pe hi reh gayi. Saina biopic ke peechhe rehne ka ek ye reason bhi hai ke us mein emotional touch nahin tha,” opines Bhagat.
Having overcome the challenges that polio brought in his life, the shuttler also dreams of his life playing out on the silver screen. “Kabhi na kabhi toh meri biopic aayegi, whether it’s on the big screen or any other medium. And I want Nawazuddin Siddiqui to essay my role. His acting is very natural and I feel he would be the apt choice to showcase my story,” he confesses.