Zindaginama review: Handled with the perfect amount of TLC, this anthology explores it all - hope, strength, trauma and grief

These 6 stories help you understand how deep rooted mental health struggles are, what causes them and how paralysing they can feel, making them just what Indian families need to watch RN!

We love labels. We also love putting people in a box because that's the only way we can make sense of them and our own lived experiences. Enter anything outside of what we're taught and have previously seen and we love using our limited knowledge or lack there of to diagnose it. Even in the age of social media, when we hear of words like anxiety, PTSD and OCD floating around, we love using them without context so we can make sense of people who are struggling to make sense of their own reality. While there has been mention of mental health in some Indian movies and series off late, rarely have we come across content that covers mental health struggles and illnesses accurately while simplifying it for the common man. Sony LIV's newest original, Zindaginama seems to have gotten it right on both accounts.

Directed by Sukriti Tyagi, Danny Mamik, Sahaan Hattangadi, Rakhee Sandilya, Aditya Sarpotdar, and Mitakshara Kumar, this six-episode anthology shines light on schizophrenia, gaming addiction, eating disorders, PTSD, gender dysphoria and OCD via 6 different stories. Its soft and tender approach towards each of these is refreshing and it feels like the story is handled in a way that we'd want society to handle those who are struggling with themselves. Something as broad as mental health cannot be fully understood in one anthology but Zindaginama is a great first step.

Also Read: Curious about mental health? Book blogger Mili Das suggests 5 books for mental health awareness

Watch the trailer here!

Episode 1, Daily Puppet Show explores Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and how it feels to live with it even after you've more or less learned to regulate yourself through the panic attacks that seem to be a packaged deal with OCD. Via this puppet show, Lila (Shivani Raghuvanshi) introduces this mental illness to her students and very simply explains what it feels like. Watching her best friend help her during a particularly horrible panic attack and a relatively new partner wanting to be a part of her journey, showed us the difference a strong support system can make. 

In Episode 2, Bhanwar, PTSD has been explored so beautifully! How panic attacks feel, conversations with the therapist, the entire segment when the therapist asked Namrata (Shweta Basu Prasad) to think back to her first memory of her fear - all of it felt so accurate! When Namrata looks at her childhood self and watches her memories with her, while holding her inner child's hand, it signifies that, in that moment, she learned to be empathetic towards herself; she showed her inner child that she isn't alone in her trauma anymore. This episode was so well directed! Some parts of it felt overtly simplified like how she made so much progress in therapy in two sessions, given how this kind of work takes years sometimes and accessing past memories isn't this easy for everyone especially when there's deep trauma involved. Our brain tries to shut us out to protect us, like a default setting, something that wasn't explored in this episode but again there's only so much one can explore in 35 minutes. 

As a cishet person, my understanding about gender dysphoria is limited to what I've read about it and how it's felt for some creators I follow on social media! And sadly this isn't a subject that's really been touched upon in Indian cinema. Episode 3, Caged explains gender dysphoria with such a delicate lens. These stories are handled with so much care and warmth! Sumeet Vyas' wholesome and empathetic Keith is exactly what children like Raju (Mohammad Samad) need to accept and embrace themselves before they expect the world to embrace them. Via Raju's story, you see a boy wanting to break free when he's itching to reach out and touch a pair of earrings, his fascination with a braid and his inner turmoil of just not fitting in to the space carved out for him by his family and society. 

Episode 4, Purple Duniya tackled gaming addiction and was very confusing to follow till the very end. The title felt apt for the screenplay but did nothing for the storyline. 

Episode 6, One Plus One touches upon eating disorders and felt like a watered down version of this reality! This episode was so disappointing given how most people, regardless of their gender, are body shamed in India because that's acceptable small talk in our society. In 2024, there's enough conversation about how body shaming can affect one's mental health and how bad it can get is what isn't discussed in depth in our households or in mainstream media. 

Eating disorders are more common than we think and they have been previously explored in small scenes even in movies like Dil Dhadakne Do where Neelam Mehra is seen eating her feelings after she catches her husband flirting with another woman or in Star One's Remix (2006) where Moti Rolly, yes that's what she was called, was bullied for being fat and she would force herself to throw up after eating. Yes, there are different types of eating disorders but One Plus One doesn't convey any of it well. There was so much scope to understand what causes it, how to identify it, how one copes with it and while Prajakta Koli tries to capture it all, I feel like the script failed her. This episode felt like lost potential!

Episode 5, Swagatam gives us Shreyas Talpade as his finest! It's also the best directed episode in this anthology! Watching Talpade play out the life of a person suffering from schizophrenia made it that much more real! Characters and stories like these require finesse that only seasoned actors like Talpade can provide. Via Mukul's (Talapade) daily struggles, the paranoia, his conflicting feelings and the sweetest friendship he develops with the child of a neighbour, you're shown the mundane and severely disturbing life that accompanies schizophrenia. This episode also shines light on the emotional toll illnesses like these take on caregivers but it's done so tastefully!

Zindaginama also has a fantastic supporting cast, especially Dayashankar Pandey, Alka Amin, Swaroopa Ghosh, Lilette Dubey, and Veenah Nair, who we've grown up watching on the small screen. Seeing them be a part of these stories that tackle subjects most Indian parents don't want to discuss or even accept as reality, helped drive the message home without any melodrama or masala sprinkled on it. 

An Applause Entertainment product, Zindaginama is produced by AntiMatter and conceptualised by Mpower. It's currently streaming on Sony LIV!

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