Does Bollywood Drop the Ball on Mental Health?

By Jamilah King Apr 11, 2014

That’s the question that the folks over at the Aerogram are grappling with in a recent story. Farah Naz Khan writes that Bollywood, a multi-billion dollar industry, continues to perpetuate the stigma associated with mental illness despite the struggles of millions of Indians.

Here’s more:

In a country with a population of 1.2 billion citizens, there are a mere 4,000 psychiatrists — compared to the roughly 50,000 psychiatrists in America. In 2012, The Lancet published a nationally representative survey of India that demonstrated suicide as the second leading cause of death among Indians between the ages of 15 and 29. Unfortunately, the country’s largest film industry’s portrayal of mental health issues usually leaves much to be desired. Let’s take a look at some examples from the past decade to get a better idea of the Bollywood’s subpar treatment of mental illnesses, intellectual disabilities and autism (major spoiler warning — while discussing some of these movies, I’ll essentially be giving away the story).

Head on over to the Aerogram to see their pretty exhaustive list of films that miss the mark in dealing with mental illness.