Among the early Hindi films to explore mental health on screen was Asit Sen’s Khamoshi (1969), a black-and-white romantic drama on the relationship between a nurse (Waheeda Rehman) and a psychiatric patient (Rajesh Khanna). Come October 10, World Mental Health Day, and many listicles pop up on our social media feeds. Yet, many wrongfully list films that have nothing to do with mental health/illness, such as dyslexia, a learning disorder, in Taare Zameen Par (2007) or cerebral palsy, a physical disorder, in Margarita with a Straw (2014), or even dementia or Alzheimer’s disease in a handful of films. Mental health and illness remains little understood in the Indian society.
Here is a list of films that deal with the subject, in a humane way, and at times, with a clinical lens:
JOKER (2019)
When The Joker, one of the best comic villains, loosely based on DC Comics characters, released five years ago, the film received part praise and part flak. Its just-released sequel Joker: Folie à Deux which bombed at the box office and got panned by Joker’s fans, perhaps, for its wafer-thin story, but how many times do box-office earnings stand on storytelling/script alone?
If the sequel sees the failed comedian and party clown Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), who’s incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital and struggling with dual identity, find love in the unhinged Lee, who plays a version of the Harley Quinn character (Lady Gaga), its prequel Joker (2019) had the lonely Fleck, who struggles hard to seek connection on the streets of Gotham City, descend slowly into madness and transform into the criminal mastermind. Phoenix (who does more internal work than in the previous film) and Gaga (always in control) are solid, even if the mental hospital-courtroom drama isn’t. Phillips’s 2019 psychological thriller which won Joaquin Phoenix — as a lonely, timid, uncharismatic and socially inept man — an Oscar is “a far cry from the previous incarnations.
In his 2021 paper “Analysing Joker: an attempt to establish diagnosis for a film icon”, published in the British Journal, Valentin Yurievich Skryabin writes, “Todd Phillips’s film Joker, a 2019 psychological thriller, has stirred up strong reactions to the portrayal of the lead character’s mental disorder, which is never specified… the psychopathology Arthur exhibits is unclear, preventing diagnosis of psychotic disorder or schizophrenia; the unusual combination of symptoms suggests a complex mix of features of certain personality traits, namely psychopathy and narcissism. He also shows the symptoms of pseudobulbar affect due to traumatic brain injury. This apparent co-occurrence of both mental disorder and a neurological condition may be confusing for audiences trying to understand mental illness.”
In the sequel, the movie’s subtitle refers to a real mental health condition: folie à deux, or shared psychosis or shared delusional disorder (SDD), occurs when symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted between individuals.
Where to watch: Joker is on Disney+ Hotstar. Folie à Deux is in theatres and will come to Max (formerly HBO Max) on November 2024.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012)
Recall Pat telling Tiffany, “The only way to beat my crazy was by doing something crazier.” He might be referrign to the dance competition but it makes a larger point about getting out of one’s comfort zone, of resilience and personal transformation and the mental will-power to do the same. The psychopathology of a film that takes an unorthodox look at life, family and heartbreak — not all brooding with breakdowns — sees the coming together of Pat (Bradley Cooper), who has bipolar disorder [director David O Russell’s son has the same illness] and is fresh off the hospital, and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence who bagged an Oscar for the role) who struggles with depression in the wake of her husband’s death. The film, unlike many films on mental health, ends on an unbleak, hopeful note.
Where to watch: Apple TV, Prime Video
GIRL, INTERRUPTED (1999)
James Mangold’s film won Angelina Jolie an Oscar, a Golden Globve and a SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Award! The film, adapted from a book, portrays the story of Susanna Kayson, an 18-year-old who’s hospitalised after a nervous breakdown and suicide attempt. Then she befriends the magnetic but cold sociopath Lisa. The film is about the inpatients and how they struggle to understand and work to overcome their mental illnesses. You don’t have to look “sick” to be sick. Susanna and Daisy might not look “crazy” or anything like Polly, a childlike schizophrenic who’s covered in burn scars. Sometimes, you may think you have got it all sorted and yet you need more help than you think you do. Talking about the sensitive and nuanced film on mental health, the Lehigh Center for Clinical Research, the US, stated that it is “a fascinating snapshot of what inpatient psychiatric care looked like at the time (the 1960s), and many of the lessons of the movie are still relevant today.”
Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
15, PARK AVENUE (2005)
Directed by Aparna Sen, and starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Shabana Azmi, Shefali Shah, Waheeda Rehman, Soumitra Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee and Rahul Bose, the National Award-winning film follows young Meethi (Konkona), who suffers from schizophrenia and whose sense of reality is warped but her conviction is on point, much more than the seemingly ‘normal’ people around her. Her hallucinations and imaginary world-making, one in which she is in dometic bliss with a husband and kids in tow, that keeps Meethi happy. Her desires yet unfulfilled, or incapable of being fuilfilled, find fruition in her make-believe world. But this illness has a root in a very real social malaise, it’s triggered by sexual abuse. Anurag Basu’s Ranbir Kapoor-Priyanka Chopra-starrer romantic comedy Barfi! (2012), which tries to address mental illness and disability, albeit sweet and affecting, pales in comparison on this count, among a few others including a simplistic mystery plot. It irritates in its romanticising of the lives of people who aren’t “normal”.
Unlike Sen, few filmmakers have consistently given nuanced, well-researched, sensitive and fully-fleshed-out screen representations to socially marginalised characters, including persons with disabilities and people struggling with mental health. Before this, the tabooed twin topic of female disability and mental disorder found life, in the character of the adult Khukhu (Sohini Sengupta) who’s also a beautiful singer when no one is watching, in the Aparna Sen and Rituparna Sengupta starrer Bengali film Paromitar Ek Din (2000).
Where to watch: MUBI
KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK (2010)
It is apt that Deepika Padukone, who has been publicaly vocal about her personal struggles with mental health and started the Live Love Laugh (LLL) Foundation in 2015 to raise awareness and reduce stigma, to have starred in a film about mental illness, although the survivor is the hero. While Hindi movies have portrayed multiple personality disorders and schizophrenia from Bhool Bhulaiyaa to Aparichit and Madhoshi in the 21st century, Vijay Lalwani-directed psychological thriller Karthik Calling Karthik, starring Farhan Akhtar and Deepika Padukone, Karthik Calling Karthik goes inside the head. It tries to explore the challenge of Karthik Narayan (Farhan) living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which is NOT schizophrenia, as many tend to label this film as. While symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, and lack of motivation, people with DID, caused by long-term trauma, have multiple personalities/changing identities (the real Karthik in the film makes calls to the imaginary Karthik), memory loss and dissociation. Freud conceptualises this process as “structural trauma”…when the self’s identity emanates from the primary caregivers and what the Others offer us.
Where to watch: Netflix, Prime Video
INSIDE OUT (2015)
It follows the inner workings of the mind of Riley, a young girl, whose family has to move because her father cannot find work, so she is expected to adapt to her family’s relocation as five personified emotions administer her thoughts and actions. A compassionate the portrayal of how our emotions influence our relationships. The film teaches more about mental health than most self-help books. Riley is being constantly asked to detach herself from the “unhelpful negative emotions”, and told by her mother to put on a happy face for her dad while her fatehr is driven by anger, she’s forced into toxic positivity.
Where to watch: Disney Hotstar, Apple TV, YouTube
STEPHEN FRY: THE SECRET LIFE OF THE MANIC DEPRESSIVE (2006)
Can the man who brought British author PG Wodehouse’s iconic characters Jeeves and Wooster (along with Hugh Laurie) alive on television sets of yore and made generations laugh at the wry British humour, be depressed? This Emmy Award-winning 2-hour two-part BBC TV documentary, directed by Ross Wilson, delves into British actor and comedian Stephen Fry’s struggle with mental health, living with bipolar disorder – Fry suffers from a less serious version of the illness called cyclothymia. A follow-up to this insightful documentary, The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On, aired in February 2016. Fry has also discussed his experience with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and said that untreated ADHD can often lead to bipolar disorder.
Where to watch: YouTube
We began this list with The Joker and is ending with a real-life comedian (Stephen Fry) who has been making the world laugh but has battled mental health issues deep down. A glimpse of that, of a failed stand-up comic (Richard Gadd’s Donny) we recently saw in the Emmy-winning drama series Baby Reindeer (Netflix).
ADD-ONs: 5 BBC documentaries on mental health from the British Council
Nurse
Bittersweet comedy-drama starring Paul Whitehouse in multiple character roles, alongside Esther Coles in the central role of Liz, a Mental Health nurse. The series follows Liz as she does her daily rounds visiting the homes of her patients. Offering a sympathetic insight into the lives of those who find themselves marginalised in society, Nurse seeks to find humour and hope in difficult situations. Regulars include ageing ladies' man Herbert who has a penchant for quoting WB Yeats and Dylan Thomas; and washed-up rock star Ray who has, in his own words, “post-nasal depression”.
What’s Your Ailment?
Mental health is important! Maria Bamford is discussing the vital topic with fellow comedians and artists who share their own experiences. Join their funny, moving, and candid conversations.
Who’s Normal?
Trace efforts to develop guidelines for diagnosing mental illness rooted in empirical science rather than dogma. Explore how science and societal factors are deeply entwined with shifting definitions of mental health and mental illness.
Alma’s Not Normal
S1Sophie Willan’s candid and heartfelt comedy about a working-class woman dreaming big in a small town – and finally putting herself front and centre. Alma’s tumultuous childhood has led to continual chaos. But after a big breakup, Alma is finally getting herself sorted. And she’s not just going to be OK. She’s going to be fabulous! A bitingly funny and unflinching take on issues around class, sexuality, motherhood, abuse and mental health, ALMA'S NOT NORMAL celebrates complex women dealing with a difficult hand in life – and doggedly pursuing their dreams.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Daily Life
In the 24 compelling episodes of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Daily Life, Professor Jason Satterfield will help you build your cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) toolbox. In learning to use these tools appropriately, you will build a life that is both more powerful and more peaceful than you had ever imagined.
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