” Your films have an overabundance of the colour black. Why is it so?”
A question that director Prashant Neel faced in interviews related to his latest film, Salaar. To this, he replies: “I have an OCD with the colour black”. He later explains that the darker terrain suits his stories. Well, He is mistaking his style of movie direction with the name of a medical condition. It’s not his fault entirely. In our daily conversations, OCD is often mistakenly used to refer to stubbornness and arrogance.
OCD is not about liking and insisting on doing things a certain way. Mr Prashant Neil likes to visualize his stories in the ambience of black. It’s his creative choice. Many film directors make such choices knowingly or unknowingly. For example, there is a symmetry in the frames of the famous director Stanley Kubrick. If there is a flowerpot on one side of the frame, there will be one on the other side too. Another example would be the impersonation comedy in Director Priyadarshan‘s films. One can say it’s their style or a creative obsession. These things help us understand whose movie we are watching even if we are unaware of the credits. Misrepresenting OCD as stubbornness trivializes the actual disease, and enhances the general perception that OCD is a funny disease.
Then what is OCD?
OCD is a serious mental illness. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is the expanded name. Obsessions are unpleasant thoughts that invade the mind of the patient without their consent. Compulsions are repetitive actions they are forced to do to get some temporary relief from the obsessions. One of the most common OCD is “cleanliness”. Let’s explain the same.
A group of friends are sitting together and eating cake. Everyone goes and washes their hands afterwards. They all go to watch the movie Salaar in a celebration mood. But one guy feels that his hands are not so clean. He knows he has washed his hands well and that this feeling is unnecessary. But the thought of unclean hands keeps bothering his mind (Obsessions). Everyone else shouts out loud when they see actor Prabhas on screen. But our poor guy is sulking in sorrow due to this intrusive thought. Finally, he decided to wash his hands again. He took his time till he was satisfied seeing his hands clean, and started watching the movie again. Though he felt relieved for a while, the same thought came up again. “It’s not clean, you have to go and wash your hands again” his mind told him. He went back to the washroom, washed his hands again and came back. This kept repeating (Compulsions). He couldn’t see his favourite actor Prithviraj’s entry in the movie, and couldn’t see the epic fight scenes. Of course, he couldn’t understand the story. After a point, when he got up to wash, those sitting behind started swearing at him. He hated himself. Finally, he left the theatre and went home.
The mental stress he experiences because of this problem, the time he loses, and the impact it has on his family life, work and recreation – that is OCD.
Studies suggest that between 2 % of people worldwide may have OCD. Symptoms often appear during adolescence. These can manifest in many forms, such as excessive cleanliness, fear of danger to oneself or loved ones, fear of endangering loved ones, feeling that one’s body parts are unattractive, and intrusive sexual thoughts.
What causes OCD?
In the previous example, realizing that hands are dirty, walking to the restroom, washing the hands, and convincing oneself that hands are clean – all this is done by a circuit in the brain. Cortico- Striato- Thalamic Circuit (CSTC) to be precise. CSTC helps us think and act rationally. If there is a malfunction in this circuit, the same thoughts and actions can be mindlessly repeated by us. This is what happens in OCD. Fluctuations in the levels of certain chemical molecules in our brain, such as serotonin and dopamine play a major role in this malfunction.
OCD treatment?
OCD can be effectively treated with medications that regulate serotonin and dopamine levels, and scientific therapy (like cognitive behavioural therapy) which can change the way you respond to your obsessive thoughts.
To Summarize.
If Prashant Neel’s obsession with black colour was indeed OCD, he would have hated those thoughts himself. He’d desperately try to change black from his films. To forget the unpleasant thoughts about black, he’d run away to a place where there were only bright colours. When the characters are dressed in black, it’s not the satisfaction of getting a good frame, but a great emotional conflict and disgust that he’d feel – that’s when it becomes the mental illness called OCD. That’s the difference!
