As a film curator, I'm always looking out for good filmmakers working in Indian and South Asian languages. I also follow many critics of regional films. For years, film critic Paresh C Palicha was my go-to man if I wanted a reliable opinion on any Malayalam film. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered that Palicha had cerebral palsy from birth, and spent his life in a wheelchair in Kochi. My respect for him, already high, sky-rocketed.

After watching The Will to Wish, a short film on him on YouTube, made by his journalist-scriptwriter friend Joshua Newton, I was deeply humbled to see the incredible effort a fellow critic took to write a single review. Palicha's dad, Charan Das Palicha, was living then: a senior citizen, he would physically lift Palicha, now 46, over his shoulder, and transfer him from his wheelchair to a rickshaw. Then, both would trundle together for the films that Palicha had to review. Once, when the autorickshaws refused them in pouring rain, his dad wheeled him all the way home on his wheelchair, so Palicha could meet his deadline.