Imagine looking at a bottle of water fall and your immediate thought is that your best friend would stumble on it, would injure himself or die in a bizarre incident. Or when your hands pass in front of someone you want, instead of feeling the thrill of the attraction, you get away from horror – frightened, panicked, with tearful eyes. Although it is not someone’s regular reactions with a healthy brain, many among us, suffering from mental distress and anxiety fight every day.
This World Mental Health Day, Sony Liv has abandoned a new series of anthology with six autonomous stories on various mental distress such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (TOC), schizophrenia, food disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (SSPT), and more.
What makes this spectacle distinct from those typical that affects real problems is that it abandons cinematographic dramatization and overload of information for a realistic representation of the way these problems affect the daily life of humans. The configuration is relatable, and he believes that we met these characters around us.
In these six different stories about mental health, we see a business employee worrying about calories, an intimidated teenager in his village, and a man cutting his friends after an ugly break. While some stories start directly with painful symptoms, others are careful.
Shivani Raghuvanshi suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder in The Daily Puppet Show by Malika Kumar (Episode 6)
The program press the community of these problems and the ease with which we have the figures. He made a careful choice to collect stories through economic strata, families in financial difficulty and middle class residences with upper and wealthy middle class. Although the show does not immerse itself in the deeper details of the troubles, each episode extending about half an hour, it gives a fair idea of what it is to live with a specific mental health disorder.
The story I found the strongest was the Duniya purple by Sahaan Hattangadi. Writing and performances shine in this unpredictable story. Two minutes after the start of the episode, we see a purple rubber duck floating in an apartment, flooded with water, vibrating for the music. Okay, Hattangadi, you have all my attention.
We then meet our real protagonist, Raag (Tanmay Dhanania), a 30 -year -old man who lost his job and was dropped by his fiancé a few months ago. Since then, he isolated himself and has not taken the calls of his friends and family. Does that seem dark? Well, here is the twist: he is happy, energetic and super cold. He sees the world around him in the color of purple – traffic lights, signage plates and even trucks – while it winds through the roads on his bicycle at questionable and continuous speeds of zoning.
The Duniya purple of Tanmay Dhanania (episode 2) is an interesting representation of mental health problems in modern times
Throughout the episode, I found myself looking for Google, trying to decode the problem with which the episode was treated. The story kept me invested throughout and surprised me towards the end. I would like to be able to say more, but everything I say now would be a spoiler.
My next favorite was in Sameet Vyas cage, led by Danny Mamik with Hattangadi. Here, we see the unlikely link between Vyas, the richest man in the village and a shy teenager played by Mohammad Samad Tumbbad. The latter is intimidated and is very poorly understood and lonely. He wants to study literature, but his parents force him to take career medication.
Mohammad Samad gave one of the best performances in the series
These two characters are wrapped in their own inhibitions and find comfort with the other. The whole episode is poetic and well written. Samad’s performance is one of the best in the whole series. His emotions, interior struggles and suffocations resonate through the screen.
Then the Swagatam of Shreyas Talpade, where he suffers from schizophrenia. He has no more jobs, is supported by his wife and lives in a constant paranoia of someone who pursues him. His condition has not advanced so much that he hallucinates, but he cannot be left unattended and spends the day with a help group during the day.
The story of Sukriti Tyagi gives a meticulous representation of schizophrenic patients, treating them as humans. The condition is also represented through a ruse close visual. All the scenes with Talpade have a dull yellowish hue. As soon as he leaves the screen, everything is brilliant and alive. Swagatam also excels in showing the difficulties of the families of schizophrenic patients, who suffer from physical, emotional, social and financial tolls. And while the momentum of history continues to refuse, the treatment of the subject by Tyagi is entertaining and informative.
Shweta Basu Prasad made an impressive representation of an SSPT patient in Bhanwar by Aditya Sarpotdar (episode 3)
The performances of Shweta Basu Prasad and Priya Bapat were the highlights of anthology. The two women, one from a village and the other in the city, fear intimacy. They cry, shiver and even go out of breath to the touch of the opposite sex. They play women with post-traumatic stress disorder, and their representation is one of the best I saw in recent films on the subject. I hope that their episode – Bhanwar – knew more about what to do with these incredible artists.
Zindaginama has good intentions but is unable to maintain the momentum. While some stories will tell you effortlessly, others will not keep you invested. The latter feel like unfinished work, with a random slice of someone’s life presented. Despite the fight against important themes and the less known aspects of mental health problems with Tact, the issue vacillates in execution. Films and television shows with social messages – especially such sensitive – must walk a thin line, balance facts and information with entertainment, so that they do not seem preachers. This is how you keep people glued while raising awareness about a taboo subject. Because it is the interest of an information show if an ignorant person is bored and extinguished it?
And that does not help only the quality of the tone of the six stories oscillate wildly with each episode. Although I really want to recommend some anthology stories, the rest can be easily ignored. Nevertheless, Zindaginama is a serious attempt to normalize mental health problems and to humanize people who suffer from it, and that deserves the appreciation of the same thing.
Global note: 6/10
Episodic evaluation:
Purple Duniya: 3.5 / 5
Cage: 3/5
Swagatam: 2.5 / 5
Bhanwar: 2.5 / 5
Puppet Show: 2/5
One plus one: 2/5
