Hrithik Roshan to campaign for the disabled

You already know that Hrithik Roshan celebrated his 43rd birthday on January 10 amid friends and family. But what you don't know is that he made another noble gesture on his birthday - the actor pledged his eyes. This comes close on the heels of 'Kaabil' where Hrithik plays a visually-challenged man. Turns out, Hrithik fully understood the plight of the blind during the filming of the movie. The light-eyed actor was so deeply affected that he decided to pledge his eyes on his big day.

Talking about the same, Dr. S Natarajan of Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital said, "I saw the trailer of 'Kaabil', and I called Rakesh Roshan and asked if Hrithik would pledge his eyes. I was pleasantly surprised when Rakesh told me that Hrithik is already planning to do so. When I spoke to Hrithik, he told me he would like to celebrate his birthday by pledging his eyes and giving the gift of sight."
Interestingly, Hrithik had not revealed the news until now as he didn't want it to appear as a promotional gimmick for 'Kaabil'. Revealing the same, Dr Natarajan said, "Although Hrithik pledged his eyes on his birthday, he requested us not to publicise this as he did not want to make this about promoting 'Kaabil'. Now that 'Kaabil' is a great success, we would like to use this news to encourage the public to pledge their eyes and share the light and follow Hrithik's example."
Hrithik and Yami Gautam had spent a lot of time with visually challenged people as part of their preparation for 'Kaabil'. It was during this time that Hrithik learnt how unilateral corneal blindness has affected a large number of the population. According to NPCB, the number of individuals with unilateral corneal blindness in India is expected to increase to 10.6 million by 2020. To treat them, 200,000 corneas in a year will be required, but only 45,000 are collected. Hrithik's pledge is a step ahead in the campaign to motivate people to donate their eyes.

Kolkata: Inspired by the contributions of the visually challenged to society, actor Hrithik Roshan intends to take the experience of filming 'Kaabil' forward by campaigning for the disabled.

The star also hoped the film debunks the stereotypical portrayal of the blind in cinema.

"On my part I will not just stop here. I plan to campaign for the disabled, not only the blind. That is going to be my part of the journey from here," Hrithik, who plays a blind man in the movie, told the media here on Friday.

The actor, who pledged his eyes on his 43rd birthday, 

said: "We are the people who are blind to the blind people, to not see what they are contributing to society."