Lashing out at the health department for unreservedly issuing permission for film shooting at the Institute of Mental Health, psychiatrists condemn the ‘commodification’ of the mentally ill in Tamil Nadu.
According to hospital staff, inmates at the Institute of Mental Health in Chennai have been enduring hell for the last few weeks.
“The film unit had brought in several tankers of water to shoot a rain sequence. The combination of leaking roofs, makeshift electric wiring running all over the place, and a ward full of mentally ill people is a disaster waiting to happen,” complains a hospital source.
“No other hospital will give a film crew such liberties. Just because our patients are not in visible pain or physically injured, it does not mean they are not in distress,” said a psychiatrist, pointing out that filming inside the wards and interacting with patients was a breach of patient confidentiality.
While the film crew has reportedly received permission to conduct shooting in the IMH campus only between May 20 and June 6, they have been shooting on and off since January.
What is even more surprising is that the Director of Medical Education, who was supposed to have issued the permission, was unaware of the film-shoot.
DME Dr C Vamsadhara said, “They do not have permission for this, and definitely should not be allowed to enter the wards. This is news to me. I will check it out and take appropriate action,” she assured.
“While our patients are given simple vegetarian meals most days of the week, they also had to endure watching the film crew eat rich food and snacks, freshly cooked by the film’s kitchen team.
They are mentally ill and child-like; they do not know what they are doing. Many of them became unhappy and restless,” said a ward boy , pointing out that the din from the generators was giving even the staff headaches.
However, the director of the film Vetriselvan, Mr Rudhran denied that patients were disturbed. He also insisted that his crew did not enter the wards, and only shot up to seven in the evening.
“Several famous directors like Mani Ratnam, Bala and Samuthirakani have shot large chunks of their movies at the Institute of Mental Health.
I am willing to show the media all the footage and photographs that I have recorded within the premises; not single inmate has been photographed.
The allegations against us are baseless and stem from internal disputes between doctors and administration,” Rudhran told DC.
He is not sure if he will be allowed to return to the IMH to complete his shoot. “The film features mentally ill patients played by our own junior artists, and we have been very careful even to give them a different coloured uniform, so as to not imitate the patients at the hospital,” he stresses.