Head in the Air

Enemies come in many shapes. In the case of the spiky-haired, tomboyish Reshma Valliapan, however, they arrived one morning in no form or figure — as voices that screamed in her head and drove her crazy. She asked her mother to tell "them to go away" and ordered her sister to "close the windows". They wouldn't leave. "She had all the hallmarks of severe schizophrenia," recounts Dr Arvind Panchandikar, Reshma's psychiatrist, in the documentary, A Drop of Sunshine (35 minutes). How Reshma turned into an unlikely hero, fought an impossible battle and came out laughing is the subject of the documentary that has won a National Award this year.

A Drop of Sunshine is now available in a DVD titled, National Award Winning Films 2011. The other films in the DVD are Iram Ghufran's There is Something in the Air, and Mindscapes...of Love and Longing by Arun Chadha. The DVD has been released by Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT), an effort to make its own award-winning films available publicly. There are few avenues to watch good documentary films in India, which makes this DVD of stellar films a must-buy.

Reshma's story, for instance, fits into the age-old module of how even demons can be tamed, if not conquered, through courage and chutzpah. Her condition had no cure but the youngster, in her twenties, wasn't ready to let her life slip away. After trying drugs, meditation and art therapy, she and her team comprising her parents and her doctor, set off on an unconventional route. Against contemporary psychiatric logic, Reshma decided to make "friends with the voices". The film recounts a journey fraught with challenges and, as the mind games begin against a fearful affliction, audiences will find themselves rooting for Reshma in this real-life drama of life and loss.

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