World Cancer Day: Has The Representation Of The Terminally Ill Changed In Movies Over The Years?

Bollywood filmmakers have been making films on Cancer and around patients who suffer from terminal illness since the start of Indian cinema. However, the representation of the story has changed a lot in these past few decades. How has this change happened?

Today as everyone commemorates World Cancer Day to give importance to the Big C and raise awareness about the illness, here바카라™s taking a look at movies in B-Town and how their representation of this disease has changed through the years.

바카라˜Anand바카라™

Even after being diagnosed with lymphosarcoma of the intestine, a rare form of intestinal cancer, actor Rajesh Khanna's legendary depiction and his ability to perceive poetry in death continue to make the world laugh and cry. 바카라˜Anand바카라™, who is witty, philosophical, full of life and charm, is reaching the end of his life, which makes his cheerful attitude on life heartbreaking.

바카라˜Safar바카라™

Actor Rajesh Khanna's expertise at portraying terminally ill characters is evidently brilliant in 바카라˜Safar바카라™, as his brush with cancer causes him to experience depression and misery. As a result, he not only rejects the woman he loves but also recommends she marry someone else.

바카라˜Mili바카라™

Filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukerji's 바카라˜Mili바카라™, much like 바카라˜Anand바카라™, is on an energetic protagonist who is afflicted with a fatal ailment of Cancer. Unlike 바카라˜Anand바카라™, she does not philosophise about it. Jaya Bachchan's natural enthusiasm personifies her desire to live, love, and see her aspirations come true.

바카라˜Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se바카라™

The film produced by Rajshi starring actor Sachin and actress Ranjeeta was loosely based on Erich Segal's 바카라˜Love Story바카라™. It strikes all the emotional notes that the Indian audience looks forward to. Once its female lead discovers she has cancer, things come of age. But only if the male protagonist agrees to make something of himself and appreciate the gift that is life as it is supposed to be.

바카라˜Anuraag바카라™

A little boy dying of cancer befriends a blind girl in filmmaker Shakti Samanta's this emotional offering. As fate would have it, he asks that his eyeballs be donated to her after his death, teaching the world a thing or two about long-lasting kindness.

바카라˜Yaad Rakhegi Duniya바카라™

Actor Aditya Pancholi and newcomer actress Rukhsar feature as two cancer patients with dramatically opposed perspectives on death in this adaptation of filmmaker Mani Ratnam's famous movie 바카라˜Geethanjali바카라™. This film examines how one changes another's viewpoint for the better when they fall in love, even if they are terminally ill.

바카라˜Kal Ho Naa Ho바카라™

Actor Shah Rukh Khan's larger-than-life charm infuses humour and compassion into his terminally sick Aman, who is dying of cancer-affected heart disease. Knowing he won't be there to witness his happily ever after, he creates one for the lady he loves and her closest friend. A striking thing was how at the end, he wasn바카라™t shown dead, and just left it onto the audience바카라™s imagination.

바카라˜Waqt: Race Against Time바카라™

The race against time in this film바카라™s title signifies what the story is all about. A father, played by actor Amitabh Bachchan, who is dying of lung cancer, is trying to make a man out of his vagabond son, played by actor Akshay Kumar. The son doesn바카라™t know about his father바카라™s terminal illness. Bachchan throws Kumar out of the house just to teach him a lesson on how to stand up on his feet. On the other hand, Kumar is fighting a race against time to ensure that Bachchan gets to see and name his grandchild before he passes away.  

'Lootera바카라™

Actress Sonakshi Sinha's awareness of her critical illness due to cancer takes into a sick fascination with death in filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane's adaptation of author O Henry's short novel 바카라˜The Last Leaf바카라™. She plans to breathe her last on the day the final leaf of the tree in front of her home falls. Except that her one true love has a plan of his own.

바카라˜Katti Batti바카라™

Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani examines the tumultuous relationship shared by a goody-goody boy, played by actor Imran Khan and a wild card of a girl, played by actress Kangana Ranaut. The story puts the phrase 바카라˜in sickness and in health바카라™ to the test as one contracts cancer and the other swears to nurse the other throughout.

바카라˜Ae Dil Hai Mushkil바카라™

This film directed by filmmaker Karan Johar begins off as a sweet rom-com about unrequited love between actor Ranbir Kapoor and actress Anushka Sharma. But soon enough, it takes a very devastating turn. Things go haywire when the girl admits to being in the last stages of cancer. The story is about finding friendship and love even in such striving times.

바카라˜Kalank바카라™

Actress Sonakshi Sinha's rash convictions reach new heights in 바카라˜Kalank바카라™, when her 'I am dying' situation prompts her to force her husband to remarry a girl she chose as her final wish. This causes a chain reaction where the girl is forced to choose between her lover and Sinha바카라™s death wish.

'Kaalakaandi바카라™

When a doctor informs actor Saif Ali Khan that he has stomach cancer and just a few months to live, he embarks on a crazy psychedelic journey. His entire perspective towards life changes and he begins to emphasise the fact that once you eliminate the fear of death, you have nothing to fear at all.

바카라˜The Sky Is Pink바카라™

Filmmaker Shonali Bose's 바카라˜The Sky Is Pink바카라™ is inspired by motivational speaker and 바카라˜My Little Epiphanies바카라™ author Aisha Chaudhary, who died at the age of 18 after suffering a terminal disease throughout her whole life which stemmed from a form of cancer. Actress Zaira Wasim's moving speech conveys her soul's sensitivity and brilliance while also expressing sincere gratitude to her warrior parents, played by actor Farhan Akhtar and actress Priyanka Chopra.

바카라˜Dil Bechara바카라™

In 바카라˜Dil Bechara바카라™, two young people, played by actor Sushant Singh Rajput and actress Sanjana Sanghi, face life-threatening ailments. Manny and Kizie, as they바카라™re called, both have different forms of cancer, and they end up falling in love while trying to survive. Following that, the two aim to spend the remainder of their days being joyful and optimistic. Kizie and Manny have diametrically opposed personalities, and their fight against cancer is the one thing that connects them. Love steadily encircles them, but they have no idea what fate has in store for them.

It is wonderful to notice that through the years, the representation of cancer or even the terminally ill has changed in films. While in the 1970s it was more of how the person was full of life, and yet regrets that they had to somehow die at the end of the story, and that emotion of death would get the audience into a tragic feel.

However, come the 1990s the emotion of love started overpowering where characters who were even probably terminally ill were bonded by love, even till their dying breaths. Love encompasses all, was something that was shown quite evidently in these films having cancer patients.

In the new millennium, films started being made where the eventuality of death was not shown directly to the audience. It was left mostly in a very subtle way so that audiences know that the character has passed away, but there wouldn바카라™t be a lot of melodrama around the death scene. In recent years, the terminally ill have managed to give in and instill hope in the others who바카라™re living and probably have to deal with the deaths of their closest ones due to cancer.

Slowly and steadily, filmmakers are moving into a zone where the stories of people having cancer is not being shown as the end of life, but as a ray of hope for others to learn and live their lives to the fullest.