Nethra Palepu
A Death in the Gunj, Konkana Sensharma’s directorial debut, is a gruelling film about mental health, toxic masculinity, and the pressure to conform, set within the backdrop of a family holiday at McCluksiegunj. Shutu, the protagonist of the film, is a reserved, timid 23-year-old who is depressed. He is going through an especially hard time: his father recently passed away, he failed his college final exams, and he is almost always bullied by his family. While all the men in the film are stereotypically masculine -- they are insensitive, boisterous, competitive, sexist, and pride themselves in their ability to ride motorbikes and drink, Shutu is the exact opposite. He spends most of his time alone or with his niece Tani. He reads, writes, draws, and has somewhat odd quirks -- for example, he has a list of favourite words that begin with the letter “e”.
Although Shutu is depressed, this is not a movie about depression. The first half of the film feels like the intersection between a family drama and a horror movie. Shutu’s signs of depression begin to show only half-way through the film, once he is brutally tackled by one of his male relatives during a game of kabbadi. Up until this point, he just seems like a quiet, shy boy who is treated like the baby of the family, despite being 23. He definitely seems uncomfortable with the brutish nature of his male relatives and with how they all baby him, but it doesn't seem like anything too serious.
However, soon it becomes clear that Shutu is grappling with a tonne of mental health issues. An intimate scene of him going through a cupboard with his late father’s clothes makes it clear that he is still not over his father’s death. He even goes on to wear one of his father’s sweaters for almost the entire duration of the film. A scene after the kabbadi game also reveals him having a severe panic attack behind a cupboard. He is whimpering and shivering in a dark corner when one of his uncles finds him and puts him back to bed. As Shutu deals with these issues, the men in his family are extremely hard on him. They think that he needs to “toughen up” and start acting like an adult. Almost his entire family treats him like a child, and sometimes, even as an errand boy.
Throughout the film, we see Shutu trying to deal with the fact that he is so different from the people around him. Apart from the issues that stem from this, it is also quite clear that he craves some kind of intimacy. Mimi, a promiscuous female character, initiates a sexual relationship with Shutu. As he is so starved for companionship and affection, it is evident how much this relationship means to him, while Mimi is indifferent and treats him terribly. A series of unfortunate events take place for the rest of the movie, including Tani and Shutu having a fight, after which she goes missing for a brief period. Shutu also goes missing when he goes out to search for Tani, but almost nobody notices that he is gone for hours together. After being shunned by both Mimi and Tani, as well as his disappearance going unnoticed by his entire family, Shutu feels like even more of a burden to everyone. He now thinks of himself as someone who is truly all alone.
Upon his grandmother’s insistence, Shutu visits the post office to call his mother -- who heard that a “brilliant student” like Shutu failed his exams and was beyond worried. The first time he phones his mother, he hangs up and runs away without saying anything. The second time, he just remains silent while she is sobbing and goes on about how she is all alone and only has him. This fact that Shutu cannot speak to his mother is a sign that he has essentially given up. It also seems indicative of the fact that he doesn’t want to go back home since his father died, nor does he want to face the fact that he has failed his exams. He is in denial about a lot of his issues, which could be one of the reasons for his prolonged depression. This is towards the end of the movie, when Shutu’s entire demeanour completely changes. From what seemed like a shy, slightly troubled boy, Shutu begins to look like a walking corpse. His eyes are lifeless, he almost always looks like he was on the verge of crying, and his face is dark and sunken.
During the final scene, Shutu’s grandfather is cleaning his gun when Shutu zones out and begins to look at his family around him. Everyone is laughing, having fun, and they all have someone that they are intimate with. Shutu longingly looks at them, once again, like he is nothing but an outsider. At this juncture, Shutu aggressively pulls his grandfather’s gun from him and points it at himself. He breaks down, begins sobbing, says “I’m sorry”, and shoots himself in front of his entire family.
This movie is not explicit in its portrayal of depression. It follows a plot of random events that take place through the course of this family’s vacation -- with each event negatively affecting Shutu more than the last. However, the ways in which Shutu is affected are quite implicit. His depression is seen in the way his eyes look, in his general demeanour, in his facial expressions, and his body language. Almost nobody could tell that Shutu was severely depressed and suicidal, not even his own family. Everyone knew that he was acting a little “off”, but nobody understood what he was actually going through. This is often what happens with depression -- it is hard to tell when someone is going through it, despite how serious it is. This movie managed to subtly center itself around depression and suicide while barely talking about it -- which is what makes it such a well-made, influential film.
References
Sharma, K. S. (Director). (2016). A Death in the
Gunj [Motion Picture].
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