Zindaginama Review: Empathetic

Zindaginama
keeps
its
tone
hopeful
and
steers
away
from
making
the
stories
tragic
or
depressing,
observes
Deepa
Gahlot.

For
years,
till
a
certain
awareness
crept
in,
the
word
‘mad’
or
‘paagal’
was
the
catchall
for
every
kind
of
mental
illness.

Now,
thanks
partly
to
movies
and
celebrities
sharing
their
stories,
and
partly
because
of
the
reduction
of
shame
attached
to
seeking
help,
words
like
‘depression’,
‘dyslexia’,
‘schizophrenia’,
‘bipolar
disorder’,
‘PTSD’
and
‘OCD’
are
no
longer
obscure.

It
was
this
awareness
that
necessitated
the
change
of
the
word
‘mental’
to
‘judgmental’
in
the
title
of
a
Kangana
Ranaut
starrer.

Now
there’s
a
six-part
series
called

Zindaginama
that
seeks
to
demystify
mental
health
issues.

Created
by
Dr
Neerja
Birla,
written
and
directed
by
different
people,
with
the
Aditya
Birla
Group’s
mental
health
initiative
MPower
as
the
clinical
knowledge
partner,
the
stories
talk
of
the
experiences
of
those
suffering
from
ailments
of
the
mind,
and
calls
for
understanding
and
empathy.

The
episode

Swagatam,
co-written
(with
Ishaan
Rai
and
Rahul
Hota)
and
directed
by
Sukriti
Tyagi,
is
easily
the
most
powerful
of
the
set
because
of
the
recognition
it
accords
to
the
caregiver.

Due
to
his
schizophrenia,
Mukul
(Shreyas
Talpade)
is
unable
to
hold
a
job.

He
suffers
from
a
strange
fear
that
he
is
being
spied
on,
which
makes
him
cover
all
the
windows
of
his
flat
with
newspaper.

His
wife
Malati
(Anjali
Patil)
is
constantly
late
at
the
tailoring
workshop
where
she
has
a
sewing
job,
and
has
to
put
up
with
mean
comments
from
her
fellow
workers.
She
leaves
Mukul
at
a
centre,
where
he
spends
the
day
with
others
like
himself,
but
Malati
often
has
to
rush
from
her
job
when
he
has
an
’emergency’.

The
latest
trigger
turns
out
to
be
the
wedding
of
his
childhood
friend
that
he
insists
on
attending.
It
turns
out
to
be
a
humiliating
experience
for
him
as
well
as
Malati.

This
story
has
a
kind
of
a
happy
ending,
and
gently
suggests
that
if
people
around
Mukul
would
treat
him
as
‘normal’
—
like
a
chirpy
neighbourhood
kid
and
Malati’s
kind
co-worker
—
his
episodes
of
panic
and
paranoia
might
be
kept
in
check.

Care
and
medication
is
what
he
needs.

Of
course,
it
would
be
naïve
to
hope
that
Mukul’s
condition
would
magically
get
cured
or
that
Malati’s
life
would
not
be
fraught
with
stress,
but
at
least
it
ends
on
a
note
of
tentative
happiness.

Gaming
addiction
is
not
taken
seriously
enough,
as

Purple
Duniya,
written
by
Sahaan,
and
directed
by
him
and
Danny
Mamik,
portrays
through
the
disturbed
mind
of
Raag
(Tanmay
Dhanania).

His
worried
sister
(Urmila
Kothare)
forces
him
to
see
a
therapist,
Dr
Pavitra
(Shruti
Seth),
who
realises
that
Raag’s
strange
utterances
is
due
to
his
immersion
into
an
imaginary
world
of
video
games,
and
that
has
led
to
the
loss
of
his
job
and
the
cancellation
of
his
wedding.

But
like
the
victim
of
any
addiction,
an
adult
is
expected
to
take
responsibility
for
his
(or
her)
life,
and
seek
treatment.

In
this
and
all
others
stories,
there
are
people
willing
to
help,
which
is
not
always
the
case
in
real
life.

 

Caged,
also
a
collaboration
between
Sahaan
and
Mamik,
is
set
in
an
idyllic
estate
in
Goa.

Raju
(Mohammad
Samad)
is
a
young
boy
suffering
from
body
dysmorphia,
for
which
he
is
bullied
by
school
mates.

His
parents,
who
have
sacrificed
to
give
him
an
education,
cannot
understand
why
their
son
is
unhappy.
He
gets
the
support
of
Keith
(Sumeet
Vyas),
the
rebellious
son
of
the
landowner,
who
is
gay
and
unable
to
come
out
to
his
controlling
father.

Obsessive
Compulsive
Disorder
(OCD)
is
often
depicted
through
characters
in
films
who
are
neat
freaks
but
that
is
not
the
only
symptom,
as
a
documentary
film-maker
(Sayandeep
Sengupta)
discovers
in

Daily
Puppet
Show,
written
by
Mallika
Kumar
and
directed
by
Rakhee
Sandilya.

When
he
is
attracted
to
Leela
(Shivani
Raghuvanshi),
who
teaches
play
therapy
in
a
school,
he
starts
to
comprehend
her
condition.

Leela
has
a
friend,
who
lives
with
her
and
knows
what
to
do
when
she
gets
a
severe
panic
attack
but
anyone
unfamiliar
with
the
ailment
would
be
baffled.

 

Bhanwar,
written
by
Venkatesh
AV
and
directed
by
Aditya
Sarpotdar,
tells
the
story
of
a
young
woman,
Namrata
(Shweta
Basu
Prasad),
who
is
afraid
of
touch,
so
her
marriage
is
about
to
end.

Her
father
(Dayashankar
Pandey)
takes
her
for
exorcism,
when,
by
a
far-fetched
coincidence,
he
works
with
a
therapist
Dr
Sujata
(Swaroopa
Ghosh),
who
diagnoses
her
condition
as
Post
Traumatic
Stress
Disorder
(PTSD),
which,
again
is
often
associated
with
soldiers
who
return
from
active
duty.

The
story
that
should
have
been
more
straightforward
moves
between
Namrata
and
a
part
of
her
past
that
involves
the
cruelty
of
a
mother-in-law
(Alka
Amin)
towards
her
daughter-in-law
(Priya
Bapat)
for
bearing
daughters.

One
Plus
One,
written
by
Mallika
Kumar
and
directed
by
Mitakshara
Kumar,
takes
up
the
very
current
issue
of
anorexia
nervosa,
increasingly
common
because
of
the
unrealistic
expectations
of
skinniness
imposed
by
the
fashion
industry.

But
in
this
episode,
Mita’s
(Prajakta
Koli)
eating
disorder
could
have
been
caused
by
the
disruption
of
the
lives
of
her
mother
(Lillete
Dubey)
and
sister
Maya
(Yashaswini
Dayama)
after
the
father’s
death.

Professionally
successful,
Mita
takes
on
the
responsibility
for
her
family,
but
they
can
look
on
in
alarm
as
she
starves
herself
till
she
ends
up
in
hospital.

A
couple
of
the
episodes
hint
at
a
reason
for
a
mental
disorder,
though
some
cannot
be
explained
by
medical
science.

Zindaginama
keeps
its
tone
hopeful
and
steers
away
from
making
the
stories
tragic
or
depressing.

With
fine
performances
by
Shreyas
Talpade,
Anjali
Patil
and
Shweta
Basu
Prasad
standing
out
amidst
the
overall
competent
level
of
acting,
the
show
makes
a
case
for
empathy
towards
those
with
mental
health
issues.

It
also
conveys
that
there
is
no
shame
in
getting
medical
help,
just
like
one
would
for
a
physical
ailment.

As
a
means
of
creating
awareness,

Zindaginama
serves
its
purpose.

Perhaps
in
addition
to
the
written
explanation
at
the
end,
a
short
concluding
note
by
a
mental
health
professional
to
conclude,
might
have
made
it
more
effective.

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