The Importance of a Film like “Hichki” for Today’s Society

MAHATI GARIMELLA

The movie “Hichki” is about a woman named Naina Mathur who suffers from Tourette Syndrome (TS). The syndrome causes her to repetitively make nonsensical sounds like ‘chaa’, & ‘waa’. Experiencing TS since early childhood, she has always struggled to cope with the society’s stigma and insensitivity towards her condition. As she enters her adulthood, the stigma towards her ailment also hinders her attempts to be earn the job she endears.

Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder which causes, repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. Symptoms of TS typically begin to occur during childhood, with the average onset between 3 and 9 years of age. Vocal tics can be either simple (making sounds like grunting, barking, and throat clearing) or complex (repeating their own words or another person's words). Most people with the condition experience severe TS symptoms during early teens, with gradual improvement as they enter into adulthood. Nevertheless, in some cases, TS can be chronic, with symptoms lasting a lifetime.

Naina, who had simple vocal tics, continued to have them even in her thirties, i.e., her ailment was chronic. The film portrays her as a well educated and confident woman who is a skilled cartoonist. However, her career interests had always lied in the field of education - she aspired to become a school teacher. In spite of applying several times to various schools around the city, she was denied a job offer, as the employers would perceive her as incompetent, because of her syndrome. One of the schools, due to an immediate requirement of a teacher, reluctantly gives her the job. She is told to teach a bunch of municipal school children who had been recently admitted into the school due to a few political reasons. Here, she is faced with the challenge of getting the children interested in studying, and helping them pass their final exams with a good score.

Initially, Naina was disrespected and mocked at, by her students. She struggled against such situations even during her childhood, where she was not only made fun of by her classmates, but also insensitively shouted at by her teachers. It should be noted that encountering such stressors, often aggravates the tics; and the film accurately captures this aspect of the ailment - the frequency of Naina’s vocal tics considerably increase, when she’s frustrated, sobbing, or anxious. These sequences also help bring in light, the importance of a supportive and accepting social environment for a person with TS, especially, during the critical period of childhood.

Due to their tics, people with TS, often become vulnerable to experience social rejection and rebuke from the time of their childhood. Being a critical developmental phase, severe stressors during this period, can make one prone to develop other mood disorders in future. Further, as mentioned before, stress can aggravate one’s tics as well. Thus, without adequate social support, the child would become stuck in a vicious cycle, where they find themselves unable to cope with their condition.

While it would sound utopian to expect everyone in their social environment to be kind and supportive towards them, it wouldn’t be wrong to perceive their family as the most significant social support system. In a society, where mental illnesses are strongly stigmatised, there are cases where even the patient’s family becomes reluctant to be accepting and supportive towards their child (due to their ailment). Naina always had her loving family beside her, who treated her as an equal, and supported her in all her endeavours; however, her father, who had long abandoned the family, wasn’t accepting towards her condition. Hichki helps the audience understand the inherent wrongness of holding such an attitude towards people suffering from mental ailments.

The presence of a loving family, must have played a significant role in helping Naina  become the cheerful and confident adult, as the film had portrayed. She accepts TS as a part of her life, with an inspiring positive attitude. She strongly believes in her strength to transcend her limitations. For instance, in spite of being mocked at several times by her students, she refuses to resign; rising above the situation with confidence and resilience, she soon earns the respect of her students, and makes them enjoy academics.

Approximately, 200,000 Americans experience a severe form of TS; and one in 100 show less complex symptoms like chronic motor or vocal tics. This film, by painting a fairly accurate picture of the syndrome, plays an important role not only in creating awareness of the ailment, but also in sensitising the  society towards the people with TS.