Zindaginama Review: An Earnest Take on Mental Health That Misses the Mark

Imagine watching a water bottle falling and your immediate thought is that your best friend would trip on it, hurt themselves or die in a freak incident. Or when your hands brush past someone you fancy, instead of feeling the thrill of attraction, you withdraw in horror — scared, panicked, teary-eyed. While these might not be the regular reactions of someone with a healthy brain, many amongst us, suffering from mental distress and anxiety battle this every day.

This World Mental Health Day, Sony Liv has dropped a new anthology series with six standalone stories on various mental distresses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more.

What makes this show distinct from typical ones that touch upon real-life issues, is that it ditches cinematic dramatization and information overload for a realistic portrayal of how these issues affect the everyday lives of humans. The setup is relatable, and it feels that we've met these characters around us.

In these six different stories about mental health, we see a corporate employee fretting about calories, a teenage boy being bullied in his village, and a man cutting off his friends after an ugly breakup. While some of the stories start right from the distressing symptoms, others gradually ease into it.

Shivani Raghuvanshi suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder in Malika Kumar's The Daily Puppet Show (Episode 6)

The show presses on the commonality of such issues and how easily we undermine the numbers. It makes a careful choice to pick up stories across the economic strata, from financially struggling families and middle-class abodes to the upper middle-class and well-to-do clans. Although the show doesn't delve into the deeper details of disorders, with each episode spanning roughly half an hour, it gives a fair idea of what it's like to live with a specific mental health disorder.

The story that I found the strongest was Sahaan Hattangadi's Purple Duniya. The writing and the performances shine in this unpredictable tale. Two minutes into the episode, we see a purple rubber duck floating in an apartment, flooded with water, vibing to rave music. Okay, Hattangadi, you have my full attention.

We then meet our actual protagonist, Raag (Tanmay Dhanania), a 30-year-old who lost his job and was dumped by his fiancé a few months ago. Since then, he has isolated himself and doesn't pick up the calls of his friends and family. Sounds dark? Well, here's the twist: he is happy, energetic, and super chill. He sees the world around him in the colour of purple — traffic lights, nameplates, and even trucks — as he snakes through the roads on his bike at questionably high speeds and keeps zoning out.

Tanmay Dhanania's Purple Duniya (Episode 2) is an interesting representation of mental health issues in modern times

Throughout the episode, I found myself googling, trying to decode the issue the episode was dealing with. The story kept me invested throughout and surprised me towards the end. I wish I could tell more, but anything that I say now would be a spoiler.

My next favourite was Sumeet Vyas's Caged, helmed by Danny Mamik along with Hattangadi. Here we see the unlikely bond between Vyas, the city-returned son of the wealthiest man in the village, and a shy teenage boy played by Mohammad Samad Tumbbad. The latter gets bullied around and is heavily misunderstood and lonely. He wants to study literature, but his parents are forcing him to take up medicine as a career.

Mohammad Samad has given one of the finest performances in the show

Both these characters are wrapped in inhibitions of their own and find solace in each other's company. The entire episode is poetic and well-written. Samad's performance is one of the best in the entire series. His emotions, inner struggles, and suffocation resonate though the screen.

Next was Shreyas Talpade's Swagatam, where he is suffering from schizophrenia. He no longer has a job, is supported by his wife, and lives in a constant paranoia of someone chasing him. His condition hasn't advanced so much that he hallucinates, but he can't be left unattended and spends the day with a help group during the day.

Sukriti Tyagi's story gives a careful portrayal of schizophrenic patients, treating them as humans. The condition is portrayed through near visual trickery, too. All the scenes with Talpade have a dull yellowish tint to them. As soon as he exits the screen, everything is brightly lit and lively. Swagatam also excels in showing the struggles of families of schizophrenic patients, who suffer physical, emotional, social, and financial tolls. And while the story's momentum keeps ebbing, Tyagi's treatment of the subject is entertaining and informative.

Shweta Basu Prasad has done an impressive portrayal of a PTSD patient in Aditya Sarpotdar's Bhanwar (Episode 3)

Shweta Basu Prasad and Priya Bapat's performances were the highlights of the anthology. Both women, one from a village and the other from the city, dread intimacy. They cry, shiver and even go breathless at the touch of the opposite gender. They play women suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and their portrayal is one of the best I've seen in recent films on the subject. I wish their episode — Bhanwar — knew more about what to do with these amazing artists.

Zindaginama has good intentions but isn't able to keep up the momentum. While some stories will speak to you effortlessly, others will fail to keep you invested. The latter ones feel like an unfinished job, with a random slice of someone's life being presented. Despite tackling important themes and lesser-known aspects of mental health issues tactfully, the show falters in execution. Films and television shows with social messages — especially such sensitive ones — need to walk a thin line, balancing facts and information with entertainment, so they don't seem preachy. That's how you keep people glued while raising awareness about a taboo subject. Because what's the point of an informational show if an ignorant person gets bored and turns it off?

And it doesn't help that the quality of tone of the six stories oscillate wildly with each episode. While I really want to recommend a few stories out of the anthology, the rest can be easily skipped. Nevertheless, Zindaginama is an earnest attempt at normalising mental health issues and humanising people who suffer from them, and it deserves appreciation for the same.

Overall Rating: 6/10

Episodic Rating:

Purple Duniya: 3.5/5

Caged: 3/5

Swagatam: 2.5/5

Bhanwar: 2.5/5

Puppet Show: 2/5

One Plus One: 2/5