|| Atrangi Re - Reviews & Discussion || - Page 9

Whew! I'm writing in this forum after quite some time!

This was definitely quite the wholesome entertainer - devoid of logic, but still heartwarming.

SPOILERS APLENTY!!

Sara has improved in spades, but she was still inconsistent. She shone in her feisty, chirpy moments, but her emotional ones were a hit or a miss. She overdoes that lower-lip trembling thing A LOT. I liked her moments where she's just reacting to Dhanush.

Akshay - definitely the weak link. His heartfelt scenes made me cringe, especially the ones where he slits his wrist and the ending. He was better in the flashbacks, mostly because they weren't trying to force any angsty emotion on him.

Needless to say, this was a Dhanush show out-and-out, like I knew it would be from those few seconds in the trailer, lol. Though I did side-eye Vishu falling for Rinku overnight, I was able to suspend disbelief because, man, Dhanush sold it, and how! It says A LOT when so many people teared up watching his confession scene when he isn't even speaking a language they understand.

Ashish Verma as MS deserves a mention, most of my chuckles in the movie were due to his deliveries. Dhanush and Ashish really sold their camaraderie.

Soundtrack is class, as I thought it would be. The only song I did not like was Tumhein Mohabbat Hain - felt like a knockoff Hai Rama.

I agree with the nonchalant, filmy treatment of mental illness, but I didn't really go into this movie expecting them to do right by it.

Definitely has repeat value, if you fast-forward all the Akki scenes.

Originally posted by: FingerFetish

Alright finished the movie. There will be spoilers in this review so read at your own risk. 

Overall, it was a good film and I liked it. Sara was pretty good but inconsistent. I think she was great and really convincing in the first part of the movie, but she couldn’t sustain it after Sajjad’s (Akshay’s) entry. Emotional scenes are a weak point for her. Akshay was the weakest link for me. Such an OTT performance.

Dhanush is the winner for me. He is such a great actor. Honestly, I’m in love with his love. What a beautiful character. Where do you find a man like him? More than anyone else, his character seemed like a fragment of MY imagination. 😆

It’s a one time watch for me. The only thing I didn’t like about the film was the way they handled the mental health condition. I’ve done my masters in Psychology and this is the first time I’ve heard about paracosm. 

While watching the movie, I did get a hint that she may be suffering from dissociative identity disorder, developed due to her childhood trauma. But I wish the movie touched on the condition and explained it more in depth. What kind of medication was being given to her? Anti-psychotic? Surely not, because she was still seeing him. Then in the climax, she suddenly snapped out of it and all is well? She no longer suffers from the condition? The mental health aspect of the film was very poorly executed, leaving a mountain of loopholes. She definitely wasn’t suffering from Schizophrenia, though it may have appeared so to the audience because of her hallucinations. 

I believe if the producers are going to make movies like this, then they should educate the audience and make a clear distinction on what the condition is. You don’t just snap out of Schizophrenia. It’s a chronic mental disorder with no cure. Disassociate Identity Disorder is very complex with no evidence-based cure either. So what exactly was she suffering from? I’m googling paracosm and can’t find much. It’s not listed in the DSM-5 of listed disorders either. 

I might be reading too much into it but if you’re going to touch on psychological elements in a movie, then you shouldn’t leave so many questions unanswered either. 🥲

Even I thought it's same Dissociative Identity Disorder like Vidya Balan becomes Manjulika in Bhool Bhulaiya and here Sara becomes her mother. I asked her about it because she is a psychiatrist. She explained it is neither that nor is it Schizophrenia like Bipasha in Madhoshi. She said it is fantasy coping mechanism. You can discuss with her if you want. 

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/159836917

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/5270822?pn=8

Even though I am neither a psychiatrist or a psychologist, I believe these two psychiatry and psychology might be vast subjects and fields. One cannot possibly know everything about every kind of disorder that exists and there might be so many other conditions that may exist yet not much might be known about them. 

Isn't it possible Sara might be suffering from a combination of mental health conditions already known or some condition that has not be reasearched enough yet?

Originally posted by: Festival

Even I thought it's same Dissociative Identity Disorder like Vidya Balan becomes Manjulika in Bhool Bhulaiya and here Sara becomes her mother. I asked her about it because she is a psychiatrist. She explained it is neither that nor is it Schizophrenia like Bipasha in Madhoshi. She said it is fantasy coping mechanism. You can discuss with her if you want. 

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/159836917

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/5270822?pn=8

 

Thanks for the links. I don’t think the film explored the symptoms well enough to make a certain diagnosis. I haven’t heard of fantasy coping mechanism, unless the member means maladaptive daydreaming? 

For me, the character resembled a spectrum of DID. She witnessed the traumatic death of both parents and began to disassociate as a coping mechanism. You can see that she began to see her father from that moment onwards. In order to protect herself, she began to disassociate further from herself, and recreated her parents love story, except she began to associate with her mothers identity instead. With DID, there’s blockage of memories (amnesia) included as a potential symptom too. That most likely explains why Rinku couldn’t recognise that the little girl was in fact herself in her past memories. I’m happy to discuss as it’s interesting but I’m more inclined towards it being DID. It’s definitely not schizophrenia for sure.

Edited by FingerFetish - 2 years ago

Originally posted by: Festival

Even though I am neither a psychiatrist or a psychologist, I believe these two psychiatry and psychology might be vast subjects and fields. One cannot possibly know everything about every kind of disorder that exists and there might be so many other conditions that may exist yet not much might be known about them. 

Isn't it possible Sara might be suffering from a combination of mental health conditions already known or some condition that has not be reasearched enough yet?

 

Of course there are co-morbid conditions. You can suffer from a combination of mental health conditions. I agree. Mental health disorders are still evolving. The brain and the power it has is not only fascinating but equally terrifying. There are a lot of mental health disorders that have gaps in literature and not enough research on it. 

Edited by FingerFetish - 2 years ago

Originally posted by: FingerFetish

 

Thanks for the links. I don’t think the film explored the symptoms well enough to make a certain diagnosis. I haven’t heard of fantasy coping mechanism, unless the member means maladaptive daydreaming? 

For me, the character resembled a spectrum of DID. She witnessed the traumatic death of both parents and began to disassociate as a coping mechanism. You can see that she began to see her father from that moment onwards. In order to protect herself, she began to disassociate further from herself, and recreated her parents love story, except she began to associate with her mothers identity instead. With DID, there’s blockage of memories (amnesia) included as a potential symptom too. That most likely explains why Rinku couldn’t recognise that the little girl was in fact herself in her past memories. I’m happy to discuss as it’s interesting but I’m more inclined towards it being DID. It’s definitely not schizophrenia for sure.

So you also feel it's like Vidya in Bhool Bhulaiya?

Originally posted by: Festival

So you also feel it's like Vidya in Bhool Bhulaiya?

Same condition but on a different spectrum. Not everyone experiences mental health conditions the same way. For example: Some people with Schizophrenia might have auditory hallucinations, while another might have visual. Then you can have someone that experiences both or no hallucinations at all. 

Originally posted by: FingerFetish

Same condition but on a different spectrum. Not everyone experiences mental health conditions the same way. For example: Some people with Schizophrenia might have auditory hallucinations, while another might have visual. Then you can have someone that experiences both or no hallucinations at all. 

Both had a traumatizing childhood with repressed tragic memories and both dealt it in almost the same way. By spectrum, you mean Vidya's was a more severe condition and Sara's was mild version, right?

Originally posted by: Festival

Both had a traumatizing childhood with repressed tragic memories and both dealt it in almost the same way. By spectrum, you mean Vidya's was a more severe condition and Sara's was mild version, right?

 

Yup. Though I wouldn’t say Sara’s case was mild individually but compared to Vidya, it wasn’t presented as severely. Vidya’s expression and voice completely changed when she took on Manjulika’s identity. She even started speaking Bengali. Vidya seemed to suffer from more symptoms than Sara. So I would say it’s the same condition, but on different levels of severity. 

Edited by FingerFetish - 2 years ago

Originally posted by: FingerFetish

 

Yup. Though I wouldn’t say Sara’s case was mild individually but compared to Vidya, it wasn’t presented as severely. Vidya’s expression and voice completely changed when she took on Manjulika’s identity. She even started speaking Bengali. Vidya seemed to suffer from more symptoms than Sara. So I would say it’s the same condition, but on different levels of severity. 

Thank you so much for taking out time to explain in detail🤗