Page 44 - Seniors Toady - September Issue 2020

Cover Package | Films

All About

The Mind

Mental health was generally uni-dimensional in films of bygone days, with
the iconic Khamoshi being an exception, writes Deepa Gahlot

Khamoshi (1969)
The suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput
has put a spotlight on mental health. In our
films of the past, if at all a mentally disturbed
character was included, he or she was simply
labelled “pagal” (mad). Now we know there
are several kinds of ailments of the mind,
and have, hopefully, begun to view people
who are depressed, anxious, post-traumatic
or bipolar with more understanding. Waheeda Rehman (right) expresses the character’s an-
A rare film that dealt with a mentally ill guished feelings only in her diary
patient with sensitivity was Asit Sen’s Radha (Waheeda Rehman) participated in
Khamoshi (1970), based on the Bengali some experimental therapy that her boss,
short story Nurse Mitra by Bengali writer Colonel-Doctor (Nazir Hussain) tried out on
Ashutosh Mukherjee, which the director had a patient called Dev (Dharmendra in a guest
already made in Bengali as Deep Jwele Jaai role, in which his back is seen more than
(1959), starring Suchitra Sen and Basanta his face) at the mental hospital that he runs.
Choudhury in the roles played by Waheeda She fell in love with him, but when he was
Rehman and Rajesh Khanna in the Hindi cured, he left without a second glance, and
remake. the nurse saw him go, holding her emotions

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