DRUGS AND PRAYERS - INDIAN PSYCHIATRY IN THE REALM OF SAINTS
Germany/India, 2009, 57 min
Helene Basu
30.01.2010 18:25
The Sufi shrine of Mira Datar in India is large pilgrimage centre specialising in healing possession madness/mental illness. Recently, it has also become a site of experimenting with new forms of community care in the mental health sector. The NGO „Altruist“ facilitates communication between the mental health department, shrine dignitaries, psychiatrists and patients suffering from diverse kinds of mental troubles who seek help from the saint. Under the heading of „Dava and Dua“ Altruists promotes psychiatric services at the shrine parallel to the cures of possession illnesses offered by ritual specialists. The film documents interactions between different actors at the shrine (patients-psychiatrists, psychiatrists-ritual specialists, patients-ritual specialists), listens to the stories of afflicted persons and presents diverse views on the presumed causes of mental illness as well on the benefit or non-benefit of medicine and/or ritual practices as perceived by patients and their relatives.
Language of dialogues: Hindi and Gujarati
Language of subtitles: English
In Berlin, young self-employed workers live the alternative to a nine-to-five job – low rents and space for creative ideas are still available. A sewing café owner, a freelance journalist and two contemporary dancers give insights in theirs live styles and tell about their independent work. The protagonists are not only part of berlin´s creative class buut they also represent a part of well-educatted generation, who struggles between job insecurity and th wish of self-realization.
