Psychoanalysis and the Hindi cinema

Abstract

Psychoanalysis was developed in nineteenth-century Vienna and led to a major change in thinking about emotions and feelings, and entered common parlance. Psychoanalysis raises notions of individual's growth and development, and defence mechanisms are used to suppress anxiety and stress. Portrayal of psychoanalysis in modern Hindi cinema is rare. In this paper we look at two films released in the late 1960s which dealt directly with psychoanalysis. Using these films we illustrate the relationship between males and females and the interaction between mothers and sons in the Indian context. The role of nurses as nurturing maternal figures and the role of tradition and modernity related to gender and westernization are discussed. These films represent the emergent India and its relationship with modernity and traditional values.