Showcasing of Diseases in Movies - Good or Bad?

SHOWCASING OF DISEASES IN MOVIES

Worldwide, one death in three is from an infectious or communicable disease, such as HIV/AIDS.

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It can be identified by different signs and symptoms attached to it. The extent and seriousness of a disease is also identified with different forms of pain, dysfunction, distress and other causes attached to it. With medicine at its progressive level a lot of these diseases have cures available except a distinctive few.

However on the other hand, AWARENESS about illnesses, their cure and the way to deal with them has been lacking since a long long time. The initiative to educate people worldwide through medical institutions or hospitals has not yet touched the roots of livelihood. Just like death a disease can occur at any point of time inn ur life and It could or could not be curable.

Now let us look at the other side of life where we analyze which is the most important industry which influences us all. The world of films has woven magic for people for so many decades now. Its' appeal cuts across boundaries of religion, cast, gender or economic stature. Yes it is the most popular and sought after industry which is the "Silver Screen". To day we have had great philosophers, authors,business entrepreneurs, politicians and many such influential names in our country and in places worldwide, but why do most of us talk only about Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai or Deepika Padukone for that matter??? Why do Big MNC's want to use them to idolize and reflect their brand and not those ppl we spoke about in the former part of the discussion?

Well now do u see what I mean ?? Yes even if we deny it or not, the Silver screen is the most authoritative and inducing industry which plays with our minds all the time.

Marketing or creating awareness about a topic as sensitive as such as diseases could not do with any better medium of communication which is present in almost all the society and classes of people worldwide. Today from a small child to a 80 yr old, from a beggar to the richest person in the world and all genres of people use television and movies as a stress buster in their day to day lives. To our luck today the silver screen gradually but rapidly seems to have a certain fascination with psychiatry. Over the years the image of psychiatry in films has struggled and, from an early start, the role of psychiatry has gained rapid recognition.Now a days movies do not only deal with family drama but have shifted their core agenda to a social cause.

Even in the silent film era, depictions of mental illness exist because these are touchy subjects which if portrayed in the right way, can educate and touch the lives of millions of people.(Khamoshi 1969)

So, how do we sum up the attempts of the film industry to show the impact of psychiatric disorders on people's lives? Perhaps we can see that perceptions and portrayals are becoming more balanced, more realistic and less sensationalistic. The hope is that this will help dispel many of the myths that people still believe about psychiatric illness and its treatment, and allow patients to feel more confident and less stigmatised when discussing their problems. Overall though, the best way to decide is to watch these films and to be able to relate to the movie in a way as it may be happening to you or your family member. This will help to avoid stress, worries and tensions in case one may confront it sometime in their lives. People lose a lot of confidence and are unable to react in d correct way when they witness any such illness around them but if they have already watched thru any such media, they would be in a better state to react and confront the whole situation in a much better way.

Bollywood, from long time has been dealing with roles involving some incurable diseases, like, Cancer, Mental Attack, Brain Tumor, Blood Vomiting and now Progeria.

Bollywood's Super Star Amitabh Bachhan's movie 'Paa' from last few days is getting more popular. The specialty of this movie is he(Amitabh Bachhan) has acted as a 13 year old boy, affected by an incurable disease called Progeria. This movie introduced an unfamiliar disease that was not known to many till now. Different role, different acting, and different incurable disease will definitely make the movie 'Paa' memorable.

GUZAARISH

15 PARK AVENUE

People who know the term schizophrenia, use it sloppily. he film begins with two sisters, Anjali (Shabana Azmi) and Mitali (Konkana Sen Sharma) looking for a place called 15 Park Avenue, that we realise is either inaccessible or doesn't exist. This 27-year-old believes she has a husband and five children and they all live at 15 PA. This 27-year-old believes she has a husband and five children and they all live at 15 PA. But there are moments of endearing clarity. Like once when Anjali explains that she is only imagining things, Mithi throws back the question - 'How would you like it if I told you, you're not a professor, only imagining it?' this is the extent to which they believe that what they are imagining is occurring in their day to day lives. Hence it is the role of the family members where she has a mother and a maid who deal with her and try their best to shift her from her world of imagination to the world of reality. It must have been daunting to figure out an end to this film, and writer-director Aparna Sen [ Images ] probably thought it was best to leave the film open for individual reading. Since the film's subject is already challenging, this choice risks leaving the viewer confused instead of pensive.

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR GHAJINI

GREY'S ANATOMY

HOUSE - DR. Gregory House is highly qualified doctor who is himself dealing with his constant physical pain and his cane which he uses to punctuate his ache but brilliantly solves cases in such an intellectual and different way which otherwise would not have struck to a typical average surgeon. Hence this