‘Cinema & The Mind’ brings senior psychiatrists, filmmakers, lived-experience thinking and the NGL–SDG
ecosystem together to explore how screen stories shape the way society understands the human mind.
NEW DELHI/NOIDA: For millions of people, their first encounter with depression, suicide, trauma, sexuality,
gender-based violence or psychological recovery may not happen inside a psychiatrist’s clinic. It may happen on a
screen.
That reality lies behind “Cinema & The Mind: Where Stories on Screen Shape How We Feel and Heal,” an initiative
introduced at the 19th Global Film Festival Noida at Marwah Studios/AAFT and conceived and curated by
psychiatrist and psychosexual medicine specialist Dr. Aninda Sidhana, National President of the WICCI Mental
Health & Psychosocial Wellness Council.
The ISDRC-originated Cinema & The Mind project is being advanced as an AAFT flagship initiative under the
institutional leadership of Dr. Sandeep Marwah, President of ICMEI and Founder of AAFT, who responded to its
potential with a simple call: “Need to work on this subject in a big way.”
Five Voices, Five Windows into the Human Mind
Prof. Nimesh G. Desai who chaired the inaugural dialogue, brought the perspective of senior psychiatry and
helped place screen portrayals within the broader relationship between mental health and society.
Dr. Deepak Raheja Executive Board member of the WICCI Mental Health & Psychosocial Wellness Council,
brought the clinical perspective, connecting characters and narratives with the complexity of psychological distress
encountered in real lives.
Dr. Sugandha Gupta Senior National Advisor to the Council, brought women’s mental health and the
psychosocial lens, widening the conversation around gender, relationships, vulnerability, trauma, caregiving and
recovery.
Vibhu Kashyap filmmaker and Denim Club creative partner with the Council, brought the creative practitioner’s
lens, underscoring that responsible storytelling must be discussed with filmmakers, not only by mental-health
professionals.
Dr. Aninda Sidhana as initiator, curator and moderator, brought these perspectives together through a framework
linking psychiatry, psychosexual health, lived experience and responsible storytelling.
“We did not want psychiatrists talking only to psychiatrists or filmmakers talking only to filmmakers. A
psychiatrist may understand distress clinically; a filmmaker can make millions feel it. Lived experience
reminds both that behind every diagnosis and every character is a human being.” — Dr. Aninda Sidhana
Responsible Storytelling Is Not Censorship
The initiative centres on five principles: Dignity, Accuracy, Safety, Context and Hope. They are intended as a
framework for reflection, not rules for filmmaking.
A person living with mental illness need not automatically become the dangerous character. A survivor need not be
defined solely by trauma. Psychological distress need not become spectacle. And recovery need not be reduced to
a convenient cinematic ending.
Cinema & The Mind | Publication Draft | October 2026
“Cinema should never become a psychiatry textbook. Creative freedom is fundamental. Responsible
storytelling is about dialogue before stereotypes become the only stories society knows.” — Dr. Aninda
Sidhana
Asif A. Kabani and the NGL–SDG Connection
The initiative also grows out of a wider leadership journey. Dr. Sidhana completed a Next Generation Leadership
programme focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals within the ISDRC Geneva ecosystem, where she
was mentored by Asif A. Kabani, MBA, Executive Director of the SDG Centre, Geneva, and Founder & CEO of the
Next Generation Leaders Program.
The NGL–SDG lens expands the question beyond clinical mental health. Mental well-being intersects with dignity,
gender equality, education, inclusion and sustainable communities. Cinema, because of its cultural reach,
becomes one of the spaces where those ideas can enter public imagination.
From Noida to the United States
The initiative’s wider creative network includes World Cinema Partners in the United States, including Raaj Raahi,
Vibhu Kashyap and Praver Awal. This international dimension opens possibilities for cross-cultural dialogue
around how different societies portray distress, identity, gender and healing on screen.
Why Dr. Sandeep Marwah’s AAFT Leadership Matters
The ICMEI–AAFT–Marwah Studios ecosystem offers access to film education, festivals, filmmakers and media
professionals—communities psychiatry does not routinely reach through conventional medical forums. Dr.
Marwah’s AAFT leadership gives the initiative a creative home from which it can grow.
When Stories Become Part of Public Mental Health
Cinema cannot replace clinical care. But stories can influence whether someone living with mental illness is feared
or understood; whether vulnerability is mocked or recognised; whether survivors are reduced to what happened to
them or shown with agency.
The inaugural dialogue deliberately offered no single disciplinary answer. Prof. Nimesh G. Desai brought senior
psychiatry. Dr. Deepak Raheja brought clinical experience. Dr. Sugandha Gupta brought women’s mental health
and psychosocial understanding. Vibhu Kashyap brought the filmmaker’s lens. Dr. Aninda Sidhana brought those
perspectives together. Dr. Sandeep Marwah provided the creative ecosystem in which the conversation could
begin, while the NGL–SDG journey under Asif A. Kabani widened its development perspective.
Science can help us understand the mind.
Cinema can help us feel another person’s world.
Lived experience can remind both how much remains unseen.
