The Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) has raised objections to the title of Ekta Kapoor and Shailesh Singh’s Mental Hai Kya, starring Rajkumar Rao and Kangana Ranaut. The Society has written letters to the Prime Minister’s Office, I & B minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and CBFC chairman Prasoon Joshi. It has described the title as discriminatory, stigmatising, degrading and inhuman in projecting mental disorders and the patients who suffer from mental disorders, and has demanded that it be changed.
The letter, dated 18th April, points out that as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Rights to Persons with Disability (UNCRPD), India is legally bound to uphold the rights of people with mental disorders. Any violation of the Mental Health Care Act, 2017 can invite legal action against the producers, the IPS said.
Producer Shailesh Singh denied that the film makes fun of mental illnesses.