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Now 'Naina' eyes protests in Bengal

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 • Hindi Comments
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"Naina", the Bollywood flick starring Urmila Matondkar, is in the eye of more protests - this time in West Bengal where a voluntary organization has accused it of being medically misleading.

Ganadarpan, a social organization working to raise awareness about human organ donation, said a film like "Naina" would set the clock back for eye donations.

"We are not resorting to violence but we are planning some action against this film so that it could not send a negative message about eye donation and impede the movement," Ganadarpan general secretary Braja Roy told IANS Wednesday.

Released last Friday, "Naina" shows a blind woman (Urmila) having supernatural experiences following a cornea transplant.

"These films carry a wrong message and mislead people since cinema is a powerful medium of communication. Such unscientific approach should not be taken lightly. This is a serious issue," Roy said.

"We are also criticizing a Mumbai High Court observation that the film should carry the mandatory information 'Eye donation is not injurious to health'. This is not something, which can be compared to smoking and its statutory warning. The buck does not stop there," Roy said.

"Wrong information can take life. In March, a woman committed suicide in Chennai so that her eyes could be transplanted in her blind children while the blindness her children were suffering from could not be cured by transplants," said Roy.

The film has invited protests from doctors in other parts of the country as well.

The All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS) has filed public interest litigation in the Mumbai and Delhi high courts demanding that "Naina", directed by Shripal Morakhia, be banned as it could discourage people from making or accepting eye donations.

"This film is going to hinder the eye donation campaign in our country. People will be afraid to get a cornea transplant fearing supernatural experiences, which is medically impossible," Rajvardhan Azad, secretary general of AIOS, said in New Delhi last week.

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