• Shivani Sarat

This paper examines the representation of mental illness in the Malayalam film Thaniyavarthanam (1987), directed by Sibi Malayil and written by A. K. Lohithadas Nair, through the lens of Social Stigma Theory and Cinematic Discourse Analysis. The film follows the tragic descent of Balagopalan, a schoolteacher whose life is dismantled by communal suspicion and inherited fears surrounding mental illness. With no formal diagnosis or deviant behaviour, Balagopalan is socially and emotionally isolated due to a single incident and the looming legacy of a supposedly "mad" ancestor. This paper explores how stigma is constructed not through medical frameworks but through familial silence, communal shame, and visual cues that depict alienation. It highlights the intergenerational trauma embedded in caste and family structures and critiques how traditional households become complicit and eventual accomplices, in psychological erasure under the guise of care. The analysis also reflects on masculinity, the suppression of emotion, and how the fear of mental illness becomes more destructive than the illness itself. Thaniyavarthanam ultimately becomes a cinematic case study in how cultural narratives reinforce stigma, turning the possibility of mental illness into a tool of social exclusion. The paper argues that the tragedy lies not in madness, but in the society that rushes to label it.

Thaniyavarthanam, Mental illness, Hereditary illness, Intergenerational trauma

"Inherited Fear: The Cinematic Construction of Mental Illness in Thaniyavarthanam", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 5, page no.f204-f207, May-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2505620.pdf

"Inherited Fear: The Cinematic Construction of Mental Illness in Thaniyavarthanam", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 5, page no. ppf204-f207, May-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2505620.pdf