Director Shubhraaj Gupta & Dr. Sujata Kapoor collab on the upcoming film "Visharda - The Journey of a Child with Autism" for World Autism Awareness Day.

Director Shubhraaj Gupta & Dr. Sujata Kapoor

Unlike Hollywood, Bollywood filmmakers have taken on some very serious subjects in order to portray dark and bold characters, particularly Autism Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder.

The World Autism Acceptance Week will return from March 27 to April 2, 2023! The Spectrum Color Challenge is the theme this time. Following that, on April 2, the World Autism Awareness Day is observed.

In that context, a young filmmaker Shubhraaj Gupta too has also made an interesting and realistic film on Autism, titled as "Visharda - The Journey Of A Child with Autism".

"This is a totally different from all the other films made on this topic. Here the character is a real autism child - a 9-year-old girl by the same name 'Visharda' and playing the main protagonist. The subject is inspired by her strong-willed and illustrious parents - mother Dr. Sujata Kapoor and father Dr. Puneet Kalra who also features in the film playing real-life roles in the film too. They wanted their child to courageously breathe in the open air and enjoy her presence in the whole world. It was really challenging in totality," said the prominent writer, director & editor Shubhraaj Gupta.

Dr. Sujata Kapoor who is also a celebrated model said, "Most of the parents try to hide their child's shortcomings and keep them away from the world. I and my husband, Puneet wanted to give our child who is suffering a king-sized joyous life. Shubhraaj managed us in our endeavor making our dreams come true. The film also highlights multitude of painful medical experiments done on my little child in the hope of her recovery."

"Many may not be aware that Dr. Sujata Kapoor and her daughter Visharda had recently bagged the titles "Little Miss India Steadfast 2022 - 23" and "Mrs. India Steadfast 2022 - 23" for creating Autism Awareness," informed the filmmaker.

"The film is finally in its final post-production stages and will also travel in all major film festivals in India and abroad. Plans are afoot to have special screenings in our various major cities too which will help in spreading awareness of this sickness," revealed Shubhraaj Gupta who has earlier garnered awards for his earlier films like "Mujhe Miss World Mili" and "Jyoti - A Light Of Hope".

The film also features Mithlesh Chaturvedi, Banwari Lal Jhol, Anuj Nayak, Aarti Nagpal, Babita Anant, Sneha Kapoor and others in its starcast. 

Produced under the banner of Shubh Universal Entertainment in association with Shubh Universal Foundation and Samvednayen; the film is jointly produced by Madhur Gupta and Shubhraaj Gupta with Dr. Puneet Kalra as its co-producer. Madhu Sharma is the creative director.

Previously, films that have managed to do justice on this theme are for instances Aamir Khan and Darsheel Safary's' "Taare Zameen Par", Shah Rukh Khan in "My Name Is Khan", Hrithik Roshan in "Koi Mil Gaya", Priyanka Chopra in "Barfi" among others.