Assessing one’s health status without including mental health in the ambit renders such assessment not only incomplete but also invalid. Relevance and importance of acknowledging mental health issues is increasing day by day, especially with the increasing stressors in life. In such scenario, creating right awareness about mental health is very crucial in order to ensure timely recognition, combat stigma, improve prevention and stimulate practical intervention for dealing with mental health concerns. There are various psychological and social factors that still act as obstacle in addressing mental well-being of individuals in society. These factors need to be recognised and effectively dealt with. Along with that, need of the hour is to facilitate true understanding of mental health, its related disorders and importance of seeking professional help among all the strata of society till grass root level. Reviewing the role of entertainment media in influencing common discourse about mental health can be a potential factor in enhancing one’s understanding about challenges faced by society in addressing mental health. Therefore, this chapter would look at mental health from the lens of movies which have veered understanding of mental health by common public in both negative and positive direction.

Entertainment, Films, Media, Mental Health. Mental health awareness has been gradually increasing globally