Bollywood Films Are Making Bold Strides In How They Depict Mental Illness

Movies have always been an art form that enables escapism. From magic to superheroes and everything in between, film is meant to transport the viewer to new destinations and excite them with possibilities of the unknown. That’s true for Hollywood as well as Bollywood, where movies carry a certain light-hearted connotation. The Indian film industry conjures up images of fairytale romances and musical numbers, or large action set pieces with muscled heroes—things that feel very much like a Movie with a capital M. For many, Bollywood isn’t supposed to represent real life or discuss issues of real importance; these films depict a highly contrived version of life events. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with these good old-fashioned filmy escapades. But Bollywood is growing up and finding room for fringe stories that portray life as many of us know it.

Not long ago, Hollywood was pushing out the same archetypal films with stereotypically beautiful characters, larger than life situations, and guaranteed happy endings. While those still exist (and I’m always thankful for a feel-good film), the industry has taken opportunities to grow and explore uncharted territories. One of the cornerstones of this expansion is the focus on stories and characters that are often forgotten — characters with disabilities and mental illnesses. Films from the ’90s like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and My Left Foot and more recent ventures like Still Alice and The Theory of Everything traded in the typical heroes with Arnold Schwarzenegger physique or Tom Cruise charm, and instead leaned on their levity and depth as characters.

For a long time Bollywood mirrored its Western counterpart in its use of mental illness or disability as a prop, primarily using it as a tool for the psychological thriller genre in the midst of extraordinary situations. In the 2003 film Koi Mil Gaya, Hrithik Roshan’s developmentally challenged character meets an alien (á la E.T.) and his retardation is used to heighten the circumstances without really diving into what it meant for the to see the events unfold through his eyes. His mental acumen was included as a side detail of this bizarre situation, never really facing any hardships outside of those confines. Another example is 2008’s Ghajini, which portrayed a man with anterograde amnesia who takes revenge on his girlfriend’s murderer (riffing off of Christopher Nolan’s hit Memento). Ghajini, similar to Memento, utilized memory loss as a plot device and star Aamir Khan’s buff body as a distraction from his mental disorder.

There’s nothing wrong with these films, but they do little to depict the day-to-day life of these illnesses. Instead, the characters’ struggles are utilized as a vehicle for comedy or to ratchet up the drama before things are tied together nicely with a bow. But more recently, Indian filmmakers have started to devote screen time to these minority groups in more empathetic ways. Disability is rarely spoken about as it is even though it afflicts over 21 million people in India, and in the vein of independent film, Bollywood is opening its doors to new stories that confront these experiences head-on and seek to normalize them to a wider audience.

One of the biggest hits of 2016 was Dear Zindagi, a film that quietly depicts depression, utilizing a series of therapy sessions as a backdrop. The normal Bollywood twist would include a manufactured dramatic romance between the top-billed stars Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt, and even though Dear Zindagi flirts with the idea, it ultimately (and thankfully) refrains from taking this cheesy direction. The film never shames Bhatt’s character for her need to attend therapy; instead there is simple understanding and a slow burn that really allowed audiences to empathize with the main character. Dear Zindagi was rightfully lauded for its insistence that depression and mental illness is not taboo, and that therapy is not a nasty word—conversations that brown communities still need to have in 2017.

Margarita, with a Straw lives even further on the periphery of Indian cinema, bringing focus onto the sexual lives of people with physical disabilities. Kalki Koechlin plays a character with cerebral palsy who is allowed to discover both her sexuality and her independence over the course of the film, and her struggles often mirror those of her able-bodied peers: sexual confusion, rejection, questions about monogamy, and death. Sexuality is rarely discussed in Bollywood in general, let alone in the context of disability, and Margarita, with a Straw is so elegantly curious that it makes the journey wholly relatable, even if it doesn’t mirror your experiences.

Of course these aren’t the only two movies to portray mental illness and disabilities in a realistic way: the excellent and tear-jerking Taare Zameen Par focuses a young boy’s struggles with dyslexia in a community that places an intense amount of pressure on education. Barfi! features a deaf-mute main character that falls in love with an autistic girl. My Name is Khan explores Asperger’s Syndrome in post-9/11 America. These and many others focus on the personal journeys of people afflicted with disorders, and are paving the way for even more productions utilizing this approach.

Film as a medium is integral to advancing societal thoughts and creating cultural shifts. Even though Indian culture still has a difficult time discussing the intricacies of mental illness in everyday life, it’s heartening to see Bollywood start to tackle it in ways that welcome discussion and understanding. There will always be a place in cinema for blockbuster films with action stars and cookie-cutter romances, but it’s important to portray all walks of life with accuracy and heart, and Bollywood is dialing into exactly the right emotions to induce those shifts.

Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a TV-obsessed writer living in New York City. Her work has appeared on The TV Addict, Brown Girl Magazine, Breadcrumbs Mag and Syndicated Magazine. At any given moment, she can ruminate at length over Friday Night Lights, the University of Michigan, and the perfect slice of pizza. You may call her Rad.

Watch Dear Zindagi on Netflix