Depiction of mental health hasn’t always been perfect when it comes to its representation in the mainstream. Nevertheless, countless efforts have been made to bring forth a portrayal that is as close to reality as possible. Sometimes, it may come off as a shallow compensation or tokenism but highlighting these subjects in graphic content is essentially integral to normalizing their presence in our communities.
Accurate representation goes a long way in validating an existence that may otherwise feel negated. Here’s a list of movies that deal with mental health issues at the forefront. Although not all of them may be the absolute winner you were looking for, we’ve still come a long way in providing a worthy platform for such ideas (with still a long way to go ahead as well).
7 Movies About Mental Health
Dear Zindagi
Delving into issues like depression, insomnia, and post-traumatic disorder, this movie starring Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt opens up the conversation around them without romanticizing any notion. The movie is set in a realistic upper-middle-class background, wherein the female protagonist expects her romantic escapades to magically resolve the aching void in her life.
However, once she finally takes the plunge and decides to seek help from the charming Dr. Jehangir Khan (SRK), she comes to accept that relationships are a part and parcel of one’s life, romantically inclined ones aren’t the quick remedy we’ve come to see them as. Dear Zindagi twists the common perception of how someone else can’t fix us, and it isn’t fair of us to expect the same either because much like ourselves, the other person is also a mere human being going through the motions.
With regular therapy sessions as the main focus of the film, it normalizes the intervention of psychologists and establishes that it’s okay to ask for help instead of bottling up one’s pent-up desires and aggression. Even if your typical Indian family may give you the “are you crazy” look, no one knows you better than yourself, and to put an end to those things that weigh heavy on one’s conscience. It’s streaming on Netflix.
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Tamasha
Without formally foregrounding the issue in the movie, Tamasha hints at Ved’s (Ranbir Kapoor) possible descent into Borderline Personality Disorder. He meets Tara (Deepika Padukone) during his holiday in Corsica and though all seems well and they hit it off instantly, their return back to their respective realities takes a toll on the former with his identity crisis getting worse by the minute.
Upon meeting each other again, their true identities are finally disclosed in Delhi but all of Ved’s happy-go-lucky nature seems to have been stifled by the compact and claustrophobic nature of his mundane cyclic routine as a product manager. Although some may label this portrayal to be a frivolous attempt at realizing the true depths of the disorder in question, the movie does go over and beyond in depicting the absurdity of life, almost like a rigorous timetable that needs to be followed for ‘success’.
Arising from a familiar root cause, Ved’s behavioral paradox is birthed due to the suppression of his actual dreams, a common sacrifice made by many in the race of life. You can watch the movie on ZEE5.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Based on the novel of the same name, written by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower first introduces us to an introverted high school-going Charlie who had to battle it out with turbulent past circumstances like his former best friend’s suicide and being sexually abused as a child. In this coming-of-age story, it’s Charlie’s goal to cross his high school years on a satisfactory note, while making a few friends in the process.
There’s a storm brewing inside his mind but he barely lets out anything, mostly keeping all his feelings and thoughts at bay. The film does a tremendous job of bringing to light the impact such a past can have not only on the particular individual but also their family to some extent, with them constantly worrying about the person in question.
It also goes to show that friendships or romantic relationships can’t replace professional help. Nevertheless, having some good friends and family by your side does go a long way. The layered nature of Charlie’s depression is vividly brought alive without ever villainizing him in the process. Available on Amazon Prime Video.
My Name is Khan
Playing the role of Rizwan Khan in this film that overtly details instances of Islamophobia is Shah Rukh Khan who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. While it was a commercial success back when it was released in 2010, many have often complained about the melodrama that came along with the portrayal of autism therein.
Bollywood doesn’t necessarily hold up a perfect mirror to mental health issues. However, considering this was a mainstream onscreen representation of the same and one of the extremely few movies with this subject line that rose to the top back then, it does hold its own in sensitizing the public and dealing with it with empathy.
The one major limiting and stereotypical image generated in the film is that Khan is presented as a genius. It simply goes on to further the idea that in order to deal with such protagonists in a positive light, the writers must make a compensatory attempt at vivifying them and balance out the issue at hand, although it doesn’t always humanize them. Watch the film on Amazon Prime Video.
Barfi
Anurag Basu’s Barfi plays a paramount role in sensitively translating this subject matter onscreen, centering around a relationship between a trio – a deaf and mute person, an autistic individual, and one dealing with no such issues. Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra’s relationship therein is a heartfelt connection that leaves us teary-eyed.
While the writer is bound to take some creative liberties in such representations, it never leaves a bitter aftertaste, rather it only elevates our profound love for the characters in turn. The one major drawback in this portrayal however is the accuracy of autism itself. While it presents a romantic twist like any other, stabilizing it as a regular story with regular people, it doesn’t push forward a completely authentic image of the issue. Nevertheless, we don’t have any hate for the movie.
Check it out on Netflix.
Silver Linings Playbook
In this brutal comedy, both protagonists are dealing with their own share of issues. Pat’s (Bradley Cooper) bipolar disorder and Tiffany’s (Jennifer Lawrence) depression bring the two together on the same path despite their contrasting takes on their respective ‘demons’. It’s essentially a feel-good movie that doesn’t leave you bitter about mental health and its treatment onscreen. In fact, it takes a much unusual direction in the open interactions on the matter.
Moreover, it’s a part of their lives, the writing makes sure to follow a plot that unites the two without making their mental health the entirety of their identities. This is possibly one of the few cinematic representations of this topic that takes a rather comic route without berating the experience so that one can feel a sense of relatability with the characters without being triggered by any dark turns in the narrative. With a happy ending awaiting us, it brings a hopeful finale to what could’ve been left out otherwise.
The movie will be available for streaming on Netflix this Sunday.
Taare Zameen Par
Although once again balancing out an ‘illness’ with an artistic super ability, Aamir Khan’s 2007 film is all about the young Ishan Awasthi, who’s later diagnosed with dyslexia. His family’s earlier misinformation or rather the lack of any information on the topic subjects the boy through endless fares of hardships at a school that isn’t equipped to acknowledge the cause of his problems related to reading and writing.
Other than the one common motif mentioned earlier, the movie makes a grave effort in disclosing the incapability of schools and their major staff members to assist the students. Instead, his society keeps pushing him into the box of ‘failures’ without paying attention to the foundation, finally pushing him out of his secure surroundings to an unfamiliar boarding school that is often seen as a place of alienation and subduing a child’s subjectivity, an upfront institution of reprimanding them.
It’s only with Aamir Khan’s introduction into the mix that the boy finally finds a better way of comprehending the things around him, and that too only because his teacher was the product of a similarly stifling condition at the hands of society. Watch it on Netflix.
Which one of these movies do you feel comes closest to portraying the realistic vision of mental health issues? Is there any other movie that tops your list with similar subject lines? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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