Hrithik Roshan pledged his eyes on 43rd birthday; Kaabil star will endorse eye donation campaign

Hrithik Roshan has joined the likes of stalwart actors Rajinikanth, Om Puri and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan by pledging to donate his eyes, on his 43rd birthday on 10 January.

The Times of India reports that Dr S Natarajan, an ophthalmologist of Wadala, Mumbai-based Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital, was impressed by Hrithik’s confident portrayal of a visually challenged person in Sanjay Gupta’s recently released revenge saga, Kaabil. He approached Hrithik’s father and producer of the film, Rakesh Roshan asking the veteran filmmaker if Hrithik will extend his support to the cause of eye donation.

Much to his surprise, Hrithik even offered to donate his eyes. While Natarajan suggested that this eye donation campaign could be another promotional tool for Kaabil, Hrithik clarified that he did not want the cause to be associated with his film. Therefore, his eye donation on 10 January was kept under wraps until the release of the film on 25 January.

Now, the actor will soon start shooting for a nationwide eye donation promotional campaign in order to increase awareness about the cause. There exists a large disparity between the patients of corneal blindness and eye donors in India and Hrithik aims to bridge that gap by being the face of this campaign.

While Hrithik playing a visually challenged character in Kaabil might have made him more empathetic towards the disability, we do know that eye donation had been on his mind for quite some time now.

Daily Bhaskar reports that Hrithik’s inspiration for donating his eyes was a result of watching his Jodhaa Akbar co-star Aishwarya feature in a similar eye donation campaign on television years ago. Besides these two actors, veteran Om Puri had also pledged his eyes. However, his eyes could not be donated when he passed away last month.

Mid-Day quotes Natarajan as saying, “We, however, couldn’t retrieve Om Puri’s eyes as his family didn’t inform us of his death.” He adds that corneal extractions need to be done within six hours of death.