Popular culture like books, art, tv-series and movies offer a glimpse into the real world. But are they the true mirror of society? Or is it just a hoax that they present? Or maybe a twisted reality? Some would say that they are just pieces of fiction and hence the reel world can’t be seen as real. However, what about those people who actually trust the reel world and take it to be real? In such cases, films echo superstitions and stigmas that are already deep-rooted in the minds of people.
The ‘madness’ depicted in the films can take a tragic turn in the real world. Let’s take the example of the movie ‘Darr’ for this. On May 13, 2017, the headline, ‘K-K-K-Kiran...Reel life horror of SRK's Darr turns real in Delhi’, was all over the news channels. According to the report, a man in Delhi tried to kill a woman’s husband twice, based on the events showcased in the film. Now, this example is only to illustrate the fact that even though movies may show the exaggerated imagination of the writers, some people blindly believe all that is shown in films is acceptable and even act accordingly.
The problem doesn’t end here, Hindi cinema often portrays mental illness as a form of romanticisation or else borders the mental illness on horror. I recently read an article titled, ‘Mental health and Indian pop culture’ by Shruti Venkatesh, wherein she went on to state that “Mental health is still represented in a highly exaggerated fashion with mainly physical manifestations. The Indian audience has a tendency to be influenced by this representation and feel that the sphere is in black and white”.
Movies like Phobia and Bhool Bhulaiya tend to relate a psychiatric disorder to supernaturalism. In Phobia, the protagonist deals with ‘agoraphobia’- which is the fear of open spaces, and she also starts having ‘premonitions’. Yes, as amazed as I was to see this, a person who has no knowledge about mental disorders will tend to believe in the story. However, the fact is that a person with agoraphobia might develop hallucinations but certainly not premonitions. Such depiction amounts to misrepresentation. Similarly, exorcism presented in Bhool Bhulaiya was successful in treating the protagonist but the reality is very different. Often, the plots essentially revolve around mental disorders but have been twisted to present a picture that is highly entertaining but rarely presenting the reality.
The intersection of mental illness and Bollywood is important in order to first surface the stigma that revolves around mental health issues and then root it out from society. Instead what Bollywood is currently doing is that it is perpetuating the stigma further by providing a horrifying picture of what the people diagnosed with a clinical disorder go through. An example of this is the movie ‘Kyon Ki’, where the protagonist is delivered Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in an ominous manner. This led many people to think that actually whoever goes in for treatment of psychological disorders faces the same consequences. In reality, ECT is very rarely used. ECT is mostly used in the treatment of disorders like schizophrenia, depression, OCD etc. In a study titled ‘Use of electroconvulsive therapy for Asian patients with schizophrenia (2001-2009): Trends and correlates: ECT for schizophrenia in Asia’, it was reported that the frequency of ECT was 3.3% in the whole sample; rising from 1.8% in 2001 to 3.3% in 2004 and 4.9% in 2009 (P<0.0001). However, this increasing trend was driven solely by increased ECT use in China. Hence, this indicates that ECT as a treatment approach is adopted yet in a few instances only.
In the article that I stated above, this is something which intrigued my interest, “If our movies, working within the realm of the main storyline manage to convey the pain and experiences of the afflicted person sensibly and interestingly, the audience will surely ‘take-home’ some sense and perceive mental health differently and be more sensitised to the travails of one suffering from mental illness,” says Kiran Kotrial, a popular screenwriter. I believe that this is something which I personally experienced after watching the movies like ‘Dear Zindagi’ and ‘Hichki’. These movies are realistic in their portrayal of mental health issues, be it the Freudian concept of the unconscious conflicts and dealing with the past or the Tourette syndrome. These movies have shown the actual struggle and ways to come out of them. All this is to suggest that with evolving times, maybe the cinema has also started evolving its content, but there is still far to go.
There is still a long way ahead to normalize such concepts. An accurate representation of mental disorders is important because seeing experiences related to mental disorders and their treatment and coping styles may encourage other people to come out and seek help. This will give them the feeling that they are not alone. It might also help to form an empathetic attitude towards those who already deal with mental health issues. Hence, we can only hope for some writers to spearhead the effort to represent mental health issues accurately in films, without romanticizing or glorifying it in any way.
Aastha Gupta
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