This talk focuses on a unique piece of Kannada film history when a practicing provincial psychiatrist partnered with a filmmaker to make films based on different psychological conditions. 

Largely inspired by real-life patient case studies, this unusual partnership began with a ten-episode television series and went on to create four successful feature films. Despite winning many awards, including one national award for best film in 1989, this body of work hasn’t been critically studied and has remained a topic of limited interest in the Kannada film ecosystem. 

In this talk, Basav Biradar wishes to discuss three things: 

1. The narrative and formal strategies adopted by these films in their attempt to initiate a public conversation on mental health conditions.
2. His brief comparative study of the depiction of mental health in popular Hindi cinema and this regional body of work.
3. The circumstantial conditions that possibly allowed for such a partnership and the impact of these films on the public discourse of mental health in Karnataka. 

About the Speaker

Basav Biradar is an independent researcher, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He teaches courses on Indian cinema at Azim Premji University and the University of Pune. He has also worked in theater as a director, playwright, and dramaturge.