Top 7 Bengali Movies on Mental Health

Mental Health has been a matter of neglect for many years. Those who were going through mental health issues had mostly been subjected to either inhuman treatment or discarded by families. They were called crazy, lunatic, insane and so on. It is good to see that in recent years people have identified issues of mental health and have started giving importance to that. There are many instances where people with serious mental health issues have been treated and have been made fit to lead a normal life. Since I write about movies in particular, I was trying to brainstorm a few Hollywood films that have dealt with mental health as a topic. The 1st 2 names that come to my mind are A Beautiful Mind and Silver Linings Playbook. When we think we can find countless. However, as a Bengali Film enthusiast, I tried to recall and find out Bengali films that have been made on Mental Health. Interestingly there are quite a few ones, and surprisingly some of them belong to the era where the topic of mental health was almost a taboo to be discussed. So, today I have listed a few such Bengali movies that deal with Mental Health.

1. Hrad (1955): Bengali movie icon Uttam Kumar starred in this film as a person going through phases of melancholia due to his Manic Depressive Psychosis (Bipolar disorder). The doctor treating him investigates his past which leads him to the previous death of a doctor. The film is slow and the print on YouTube is not that clear. However, it's watchable because of the performances of Uttam Kumar as the patient and Asit Baran as the doctor. There are some interesting conversations between the patient and his nurse where he bluntly states how he distastes her presence all the time around. 

2. Harano Sur (1957): This is another Uttam Kumar starrar film of that era that deals with amnesia as the main topic. Uttam Kumar plays a person who meets with an accident and this accidental trauma leads to his memory loss. The doctor treating him is sympathetic towards him and takes him to her house for better observation, eventually falling in love with him. When they get married and start leading a happy life, the man again meets with an accident and starts recalling everything but the whole episode of his marriage to the doctor gets erased from his memory. The plot is quite interesting and this is considered to be an iconic film of the famous onscreen pair of Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. Suchitra Sen's performance in this movie is magnetic and so is her chemistry with Uttam Kumar. 

3. Deep Jweley Jai (1959): This movie is considered one of the topmost when it comes to Bengali Mainstream cinema. A man going through acute emotional trauma falls in love with his nurse. The nurse, played by Suchitra Sen, had to act to fall in love with him too, as a part of his treatment. But when she truly falls in love with him, he recovers and dismisses her. Ironically her severe emotional trauma leads to her confinement in the same ward. This movie is heartbreaking and stands out for Sen's brilliant performance. The songs of the film are equally popular. Later the film was remade in Hindi as Khamoshi, starring Waheeda Rehman. 

4. Jackpot (2009): This is a very underrated film. The 2 main characters of the film are playing a live game show to win 1 crore. They change their identities and take up the challenges that are thrown at them. On his journey, one of the contestants, who changes his identity to a driver, meets a lively girl who wants to meet her lover. Until the end, we do not get to know that the girl is going through an emotional trauma, due to her parents' demise and is delusional about her surroundings. Who wins the game and what happens with the prize money is quite novel. This is one of director Kaushik Ganguly's earlier ventures and it was nice to see Koyel Mullick take up the unconventional role of the mentally challenged girl, at a time when she was at the peak of her career in Bengali mainstream movies, as a glamorous heroine. 

5. Hemlock Society (2012): A very offbeat film about suicide prevention, this one stars Parambrata Chatterji as a person who runs an organization that teaches people the different ways of committing suicide. Through this innovative way, he lightheartedly eradicates the thought of taking own life in patients with suicidal tendencies. His name by itself means Ananda Kar (Make Merry). The movie deals with the serious issue of suicide light-heartedly, without undermining it thus making it a nice and memorable watch.

6. The Royal Bengal Tiger (2014): A very timid man leads a happy life at home with his family, but outside he is often bullied by his tenant and colleagues. His life and personality change abruptly when he meets his childhood friend. This film is a story of a man dealing with very severe schizophrenia. Abir Chatterji plays Abhi, the timid man, while Jeet plays Anjan, his childhood friend. The ending is quite interesting and twisted. This is a good one-time watch.

7. Belashuru (2022): The 2nd instalment of this series (1st is Belaseshe), this film is about an aged couple who has to leave their Kolkata house, due to their wife's Alzheimers. The story begins there when the wife forgets parts of her life and is unable to recognize some people including her own husband. She refers to her husband as "oi lokta"(that man) and gets annoyed at his presence. This movie is an emotional journey throughout the runtime. The performances of the lead characters, Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta create a stir in the viewer's minds. It would be best to watch the 1st part of the series "Belaseshe" to realise the depth of the story here. This unmistakably is the best Bengali film on mental health, that I have watched. 

There is another film called "Nirbak" that also deals with mental health. That's on my watchlist too. Do you know about any other regional movies on mental health? Any recommendations are welcome in the comments.

This post was created for the Blogaberry Creative (Monthly) Challenge with theme word Health