Biopic on Hyderabad’s visually impaired prodigy

Hyderabad: He was not allowed to study science after class X and had to fight a long legal battle with the government. He went on to become the first international blind student to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. Not only in academics, but he excels in blind cricket, international chess, baseball and swimming too. This is the story of Hyderabad-based visually challenged entrepreneur Srikanth Bolla, who has overcome all struggles and challenges and become a visionary.

Now, a biopic starring Rajkummar Rao is being made on Srikanth, even as he believes he has a long way to go before calling himself successful. Born blind to poor and uneducated parents, who were told to leave their child to die, Srikanth emerged victorious with his entrepreneurial setup and paved a new course for himself. “I was initially not keen on the biopic as I felt that I still had a long way to go. But, I had to give in to the perseverance of director Tushar Hiranandani. I met Rajkummar Rao in Mumbai and believe that he will be able to do justice to the role,” Srikanth Bolla told Telangana Today.

The film, according to him, will concentrate on his early life and on his entrepreneurial journey of setting up Bollant Industries which is engaged in the manufacturing of Kraft paper using recycled post-consumer municipal paper waste and other paper-based disposable and packaging material. “I started the company because the visually challenged find it difficult to get jobs due to the stigma and ‘low’ skills. I wanted to provide employment to my peers and that is how Bollant Industries came into being in 2012 with an investment of Rs 10 lakh. Today, the company is valued at Rs 500 crore, has an annual turnover of more than Rs 100 crore and has 500 employees. We provide direct and indirect employment to 3,000 people,” he said.

Calling his life at MIT a “brutal situation”, he says the place tears “you into pieces and builds you again”. The institute, he says, helped him become more confident and moulded him for the future. “More than the classroom education, the institute gave me a lot of life lessons which I will always cherish and remember,” he said.