Bollywood - The Route to Portray Mental Health in India
In Bollywood, producers create a concept in movies in order to portray social issues all around India, such as domestic violence, poverty and trafficking. However, one of the glaring issues that our society faces today is mental health. Bollywood uses its platform, where it gains billions of views across the world to stamp a message on how mental health affects people’s behaviours and their ways of living. For me, one movie stands out which exemplify the importance of understanding the consequences of mental health.
​
The movie that accentuates mental health in a nutshell is called Taare Zameen Par, which stars Aamir Khan. An overview of this story is that a boy called Ishaan suffers from dyslexia. Because of his suffering, he gets looked down on by his parents, and his classmates belittled and berated him for his disability. After Ishaan received a poor academic report, his parents sent him to a boarding school, to improve his academic skills, as well as his discipline. Ishaan felt isolated, lonely and mistreated in that boarding school. Ishaan’s fortunes changed however, with a new optimistic art teacher called Ram Nikumbh, who tutored at the Tulips School for young children with disabilities. He then realised that Ishaan suffers from dyslexia, when he analysed his books at the school. Nikumbh then visited Ishaan’s house in Mumbai to explain to his parents that he suffered from dyslexia and proved that it has an effect on the way you think and write. Nikumbh returned to the boarding school to show the kids all the famous people who suffered from dyslexia, and further tutored Ishaan. Ishaan was getting much better grades and was feeling much more content. Ishaan had a passion for art and entered an art competition. And due to his creativity, he won the competition which was judged by artist Lalita Lajimi.
​
There are some key messages conveyed about why mental health is important through key moments in the movie. One key moment was when Ishaan contemplated to commit suicide during his time at the boarding school. When his parents looked down on him, he felt unloved. This was further accentuated by the abuse he got from the teachers at the boarding school, believing he was an actual failure. With all these notions in his mind, he wanted to commit suicide, as the way he was treated expressed his dissent towards living. What we learn from that moment is to love your children unconditionally. If you work with the mental health condition your child has, your child will feel loved and appreciated. The ideas of committing suicide in the film sends such a powerful message to love your children. The fact that Ishaan didn’t receive any love or compassion from his parents makes you realise that your children only thrive if parents support them and love them for who you are. Another pivotal moment was when Nikumbh explained to Ishaan of how he struggled in his childhood. Nikumbh was that fatherly figure Ishaan needed, and because he experienced mental challenges in the past, he wanted to support Ishaan. It shows that experiencing it yourself makes you more resilient to opening up to others who are struggling. Nikumbh used his experiences as medicine, to heal the emotional wounds Ishaan suffered from the past. One more pivotal moment was when Nikumbh travelled to Mumbai to visit Ishaan’s parents. Here we see Nikumbh exploring Ishaan’s books, and when he saw evidence of his numeric and academic struggles, he further explained to the parents he has dyslexia. However, Nandkishore (Ishaan’s dad) brushed it off, classing it as mental retardation and an excuse for laziness. The message here is people suffering mental health shouldn’t feel embarrassed or they’re a failure. They have different routes to succeed in what they love. We also see in this candid moment Nikumbh looking at Ishaan’s love for art. He sees Ishaan’s creativity and wants to exploit it further in an art competition at the boarding school. We see Nikumbh painting a portrait of Ishaan and producing a visual message to say you can succeed with mental health. You should always chase your dreams and even though sometimes with dyslexia your life gets tough, you have special skills to achieve your dreams. And it was further shown that Ishaan won the art competition. Nikumbh embraced dyslexia and through remedial techniques, he got the best out of Ishaan.
​
What we also get out this movie is that Nikumbh was also not a conventional teacher, and he further expressed that technique by the increased interaction in class. Kids can bounce off that energy, because in the film, the unconventional teaching methods put a smile on their faces. It shows that a caring and understandable relationship between a teacher and a student creates happiness. The fact that Nikumbh understood Ishaan made it easier for Nikumbh to tutor him, as he was in Ishaan’s shoes when he was a child. In order for a child to succeed, they need to be confident in themselves and their ability. That is when parents need to work with their children, as well as teachers nurturing their skills. In order to make a change of the attitudes towards mental health in India, the film raised awareness of the issues of dyslexia, and prompted more open discussions among parents, schools, activists, and policymakers in India. We see that actually seeing someone suffering from dyslexia would make people in India understand that mental health is real, and that kids who suffer shouldn’t be treated in a horrible manner like Ishaan was in Taare Zameen Par. We have also seen changes in educational purposes too. After 10 days of the release, the film influenced the Central Board of Secondary Education to provide extra time to special children including the visually impaired, physically disadvantageous and dyslexic during exams. In 2008, Mumbai's civic body also opened 12 open classrooms for autistic students. In Chandigarh, the education administration started a course to educate teachers on how to deal with children with learning disabilities. We can see that the Bollywood industry influences the increase in education of mental health, so that people understand how to help children maximise their full potential in what they enjoy.
​
So, what we can take out of Taare Zameen Par is that love and care the strongest medicine a dyslexic child can have, and you should never feel embarrassed about your condition. It also prompted changes in how to educate about mental health and how to support kids suffering it. Mental health can take you down but can help you rise quicker than ever.
​
By Rhiyan Patel