Words of resistance

He was all of twenty when he was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. That is when the world started labelling him, making jokes about his condition, taking him to gurus and godmen who only patronised and demonised him. This is the story of over 13 million bipolar individuals in the country. This is also the story of filmmaker Rohan Sabharwal, who has decided it’s time the country dealt with mental health by showing empathy and understanding.

Rohan and poet Rachana Iyer decided they’d fight prejudices through their spoken word project ‘Rhyme with Reason’, and released a video called Dear Mental Health Ally, which is everything one must know while trying to help someone with mental health issues. Just like Rohan and Rachana, the younger generation today seems to be finding solace in fighting societal biases through this resurgent form of resistance, which comprises writing that solely intended to be read out aloud.

“Our project Rhyme with Reason started with a reason to push boundaries. From our personal experiences with mental health issues, we wanted to talk about what people usually sweep under the rug. In order to bring what we wrote to life, spoken word was necessary because it is raw, open, and free — it does not have formal rules like poetry does. One does not need to know any literature to write a spoken word piece, and it has much larger power to say things the way they are, with no sugar coating. Whenever there’s something in society that distresses us, like student suicides, beef ban, body shaming, we take to spoken word. We are planning our next piece on beef ban,” elaborates Rachana about the reason that spoken word is their way to resist prejudice.

Here is some of Rohan’s spoken word work — Dear Mental Health Ally, I’ve had enough of being told which celebrity shares this condition I hold. All I hear about is this link with the creative, but how do you create in a state so vegetative?

“Bipolar disorder is not uncommon, but there’s a lot of stigma and shame attached to it in our country, with a complete lack of understanding of the condition. Doctors and nurses even beat their patients thinking that that will get them out of the condition. With the new mental health bill being introduced in our parliament, there’s no better time to call a spade a spade and speak openly about mental health,” says Rohan, putting things into perspective.

Tamil rapper and singer Sofia Ashraf, who found fame with Kodaikanal Won’t, agrees that this new tool will aid in getting her message across. “Spoken word is one of the greatest ways to speak out. When I speak casually, I don’t find myself all that aggressive and can’t say everything that I want to say. But, spoken word is an art that will help me channel all my frustration and angst. It is almost cathartic.  It, in fact, blurs the line between lyrical prose and poetry and gets the message out in the most informal way. I’m planning my next project through spoken word on the domestic abuse that many Indian women face, particularly overseas,” Sofia reveals.

Actors like Kalki Koechlin and her ilk have also taken to spoken word to put forth their views. Kalki’s The Printing Machine is a satire against many print publications that are selling out to yellow journalism. Says Rochelle D’silva, a Mumbai-based poet and spoken word performer, “Spoken word is more real and it does not matter how the audience takes your words — each person has something to take from it and we never know how our words will influence someone. I could talk about depression, loss, refugees across the world, gender — all through spoken word.” All these artistes hope for the same thing — that their words will make people think, and start a conversation on the issues they are addressing.