16-Year-Old Para Athlete Pavan Kumar Takes His Story to the Big Screen

Gandhinagar, August 21: SAI, NCoE, Gandhinagar trainee para athlete Pavan Kumar wears many hats. Apart from being a national-level medallist, he is also an aspiring filmmaker and will soon be directing a movie that is scheduled to be screened at the prestigious Superfest Disability Film Festival in 2028.

Pavan's film proposal was approved earlier this month by the governing body of the Superfest Disability Film Festival, the world's premier film festival regarding disability issues, which is organised by the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University and the San Francisco Disability Cultural Center.

Pavan Kumar aims to inspire through filmmaking

"Every person with a disability has talent, potential, and a story worth sharing. With this belief, I developed a film concept focused on inspiring society to view persons with disabilities with respect, dignity, and confidence, and it was approved by the Superfest Disability Film Festival. I aspire to become a film director and create meaningful films that inspire," explained Pavan in an interaction with SAI Media.

At the moment, Pavan's biggest worry is securing a producer for his work.

"Right now I am trying to get financial support for my film, and I have started working on the film's screenplay."

Para athlete Pavan Kumar overcame life-changing injury

The Eluru resident's life journey has been wrought with monumental challenges.

At the tender age of four years, Pavan suffered a severe electric shock due to which his right hand had to be amputated and his skull broke open, which required plastic surgery to fix. Yet the seemingly insurmountable challenges did not deter him as he is today a multiple medal winner in national para sports and a trainee at SAI, NCoE, Gandhinagar, India's premier training facility for para athletes.

Pavan expressed gratitude to his physical education teacher for introducing him to sports.

"When I was in the 6th standard, my physical education teacher Mallayya Sir recognised my athletic ability and advised me to take up sports. After six months of practice, I won the state bronze medal in para athletics. I won medals repeatedly at district disability meets every year for the next four years, there were hardly any other competitions for me to take part in.

"After 10th (2024) I started para sports in earnest. I participated in the state meet for the first time in August 2025 in Vizag where I won three gold medals. After that I won two silver medals in the nationals."

Pavan Kumar draws inspiration from Indian cinema

Pavan explained how he developed an interest in filmmaking.

"I had opted for filmmaking in Class X, after that I was fascinated with the art form. I have researched in depth about Dadasaheb Phalke, Satyajit Ray and also Malayalam cinema which is my favourite cinema."

A very studious boy, Pavan at 16 years of age cleared the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2026, securing an impressive All India rank of 367 out of 88,657 aspirants who appeared for the exam. He is pursuing BA LLB from NLSIU, Bengaluru and also studying BA Public Policy concurrently.

"For about three and a half months I studied regularly for 15 hours every day to clear the CLAT exam. I am also concurrently pursuing BA LLB and BA Public Policy from CA Reddy College, Eluru. Both the courses include filmmaking as a subject," he explains.

Maternal uncle supported Pavan's academic journey

Apart from his grandmother, he shares a special bond with his maternal uncle, who supported him in his academic pursuits.

"After my Class X, many of my relatives felt that I should discontinue studies and join a disability foundation. It was my Mama (maternal uncle) who encouraged and supported me to study."

Pavan feels that more disabled people should take up preparation for government jobs, and advises aspiring athletes to be patient while pursuing their craft.

"Nowadays there is a lot of support for the disabled who study for competitive exams, there is reservation and immense opportunity. While the able-bodied aspirants get three hours to complete their exams, we get three and a half hours.

"Also, more disabled people should take up sports. If they can patiently pursue their craft, they will see the results."