Elsevier

Asian Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 4, Issue 3, September 2011, Pages 210-213
Asian Journal of Psychiatry

Portrayal of psychiatrists in Hindi movies released in the first decade of the 21st century

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2011.07.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Context

Of late, there has been an increase in the number of psychiatrists shown in Hindi movies. There is dearth of systematic research that focuses specifically upon the depiction of psychiatrists in Hindi cinema.

Aim

To explore the portrayal of psychiatrists in recent Hindi cinema.

Materials and methods

Twenty-six Hindi movies released between January 2001 and March 2010 portraying 33 ‘psychiatrist’ characters in a main or a secondary (but significant) role, were reviewed and data related to the personal attributes and professional conduct of the movie psychiatrists was collected.

Results and conclusions

The portrayal of psychiatrists in Hindi movies released in the first decade of the 21st century is unflattering. Hindi movies depicted psychiatrists as most likely to be male, middle-aged, and friendly in their attitude towards the patients. 42.4% of them were clinically incompetent, and only 30.3% could make an accurate diagnosis. 39.4% of them breached professional ethics. Eight (24. 2%) transgressed non-sexual boundaries, whereas five (15.2%) violated both sexual and non-sexual boundaries. The most common clinical/treatment setting was outpatient (53.8%), and pharmacotherapy was the most common treatment modality used. Treatment outcome was depicted positive in only 23.1% of the movies analyzed.

Introduction

Media is known to distort facts and bend reality in order to create sensationalism and garner public interest. Ever so often, it tends to present a false picture of psychiatrists’ work to the public (Schneider, 1987). Media images do contribute to an unfavourable perception of mental health services and their utilisation (Németh, 2009). Indian cinema, an influential mass medium that enthrals millions across the country and outside, has a fantastic disconnectedness from reality (Swaminath and Bhide, 2009), at least as far as the portrayal of psychiatrists is concerned, which continues to be caricatured (Prasad et al., 2009). Psychiatrists are seen in negative light by the community (Reddy, 2007, Sartorius et al., 2010), and popular cinema's distasteful depiction of psychiatrists (Sartorius et al., 2010) may only perpetuate the prevalent negative perceptions. Media professionals often counter this allegation by claiming that media's portrayal only reflects what the masses want to see, and an accurate depiction usually does not ‘sell’ (Bolton, 2000), but the contention that movies are crafted to reap megabucks and not to educate audiences is gross and obviously unacceptable.

Hindi cinema, also called Bollywood in popular parlance, is arguably the most alluring art form for the Indian audiences. Not only is it an important source of entertainment but also that of information, misinformation and opinion formation. Portrayal of psychiatric illness (Bhugra, 2006) and ECT (Andrade et al., 2010) in Hindi movies has been extensively studied and described, but there are no systematic research reviews available that focus specifically upon the depiction of psychiatrists. Since recent times have seen a surge in the number of psychiatrists shown in Hindi movies, the current research considered all movies showing a ‘psychiatrist’ character released in or after the year 2001, and aimed to study the personal attributes and the professional conduct of psychiatrists as represented in these movies.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

A list was compiled of commercially available Hindi movies in the knowledge of the author, released in the period between January 2001 and March 2010 having a ‘psychiatrist’ character in a main or a secondary (but significant) role. Help was sought from two movie libraries, Big-flix and E-planet. A Google search with key words “psychiatrist”, “hindi”, “cinema”, and “movies” was also conducted to ensure that no movies were left out. ‘Psychiatrist’ characters shown to be either mute bystanders or

Results

The movies that were analyzed have been listed in Table 1. A total of 26 movies portraying 33 psychiatrists were reviewed. No movies released in the year 2001 could be traced that featured psychiatrists. 12 (46.2%) movies were categorised under the “drama” genre. “Thriller” (26.9%), “horror” (19.2%) and “comedy” (7.7%) were the other categories. In 5 (19.2%) films, the main plot revolved around the personal life of the ‘psychiatrist’ characters, with them being in a lead role in those films,

Discussion

Movies capture the imaginations of billions around the globe. The Hindi movie industry produces more than 1000 films every year. Its impact can be estimated from the fact that it reaches out to a worldwide audience of about 3 billion. Mass appeal, heavy marketing, wide outreach and easy availability make movies an important shaper of an emerging Indian popular culture. “Film portrayals of physicians may create public expectations of similar behaviours, attitudes, values, and practices in real

Conclusion

The portrayal of psychiatrists in Hindi movies released in the first decade of the 21st century is far from flattering, and leaves a lot to be desired. Movie psychiatrists were more likely to be incompetent than competent, with one-third of them making an inaccurate diagnosis and about 40% of them violating ethical boundaries. “From shunned to shining”, as described in an analysis of Australian movie psychiatry (Rosen et al., 1997), is a mark yet to be achieved by Hindi cinema psychiatry and

Role of funding source

There is no funding source or sponsor for this work.

Conflict of interest

None.

Acknowledgements

The author sincerely thanks Dr. Numan Gharaibeh (Medical Director, New Milford Behavioral Health Sciences and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, New York Medical College and University of Vermont) and Dr. G.K. Vankar (Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry, B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, India) for reviewing the manuscript and giving valuable suggestions.

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