FRISCO, Texas — The Oscar-winning movie "CODA" is being celebrated as a success in inclusion: the casting of hearing-impaired actors in a story written especially for them.
A teenager in Frisco, now finding himself on the big screen, hopes just maybe that his time in the spotlight could achieve the same thing.
When he was very young and growing up in Plano and Frisco, Surya Kasibhatla made a startling claim. He told his parents that he would like to be an actor some day.
There was just one problem.
Surya has cerebral palsy. It affects his movement and his speech.
So, his family wondered, how could that dream actually come true?
Well, the Indian-born family learned through their network of friends and health specialists that a major film producer in Bollywood was looking for a teen with cerebral palsy to play that specific role.
After casting calls and auditions the then 13-year-old from Frisco found himself on a movie set in Mumbai alongside some of India's biggest film stars.
"It's something you can't be taught. You're just born with it," actor Shefali Shah said of her immediate assessment of Surya's on-camera abilities.
"He's one of those people who can light up a room when he enters it," added actor Vidya Balan.
Released on Amazon Prime Video on March 18, "Jalsa" is the first film originating from Bollywood to feature a disabled actor. Producers have described it as a movie that "stands to be a sign of increased inclusivity and diversity from the world's largest film industry."
That's exactly what Surya's parents are hoping for, too.
"When they selected him it was an unbelievable feeling," Surya's dad Krishna Kasibhatla said. "The hope is for this being a harbinger of change. And this brings a message of inclusivity is what I feel and I'm already starting to sense that. A message of positivity to a lot of disabled, specially abled people."
"I would want people like me to be confident and hopeful and be motivated because it doesn't matter what you have. Any person can do anything," Surya, now 14, said. "So if people have that firm belief I think people can conquer the world."
Meanwhile, Surya is also working on conquering another world. He wants to start a technology company that helps others with cerebral palsy -- something his words and his smiling face on film are doing already.
"Thank you," Surya laughed. "I think people who have disabilities like me, to not lose hope and stay positive and focus on their goals."
"Yep. Absolutely," his dad said.
And, absolutely, a middle schooler from Collin County - by way of Bollywood - is well on his way.
"Jalsa" is the story of a hit-and-run incident that sets in motion the efforts of a journalist, a raging mother and a police department all caught in an ethical dilemma -- that the truth is rarely pure and never simple.