World Suicide Prevention Day: A Look At Odisha’s Statistics, Some Films On The Issue

Bhubaneswar: World Suicide Prevention Day is observed on September 10 every year, when organisations, governments and the general public through various programmes raise awareness about the issue, educate people not to stigmatise the victim and give a clear message that suicide can be prevented.

Odisha has seen a spike in suicide cases with a 20.20 per cent rise in cases over the last five years. The current suicide rate in the state is 12.5 per cent against the national average of 12 per cent.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2021 report, 5,651 people in Odisha committed suicide in 2021, including 4,412 males and 1,239 females. Among them, 132 people chose to end their lives over love affair, 18 people over fear of social embarrassment, 4,033 people due to family feud and 24 people due to unemployment. Around 5,546 people had committed suicide in 2020.

This year so far, 377 women have already committed suicide in Odisha, more than 80 in Bhubaneswar alone.

Likewise, a report of the World Health Organisation (WHO) says around 10 lakh people commit suicide each year across the globe, which is around 3,000 people per day. Among them, more than 20 per cent people take the extreme step due to career, family, job, financial issues, depression, and overdose of alcohol and drugs.

As per the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. But for people with an anxiety disorder, it starts interfering with daily basic activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships. Communication, physical exercise, nutritious diet and counselling are some ways through which such people can deal with anxiety and depression.

There are several Bollywood films on the issue:

Chhichhore

The movie talks about exam anxiety, pressure and suicide. The narrative portrays what one goes through due to extreme pressure. It ends on a positive note, discouraging people from thinking of suicide as an escape mechanism.

3 Idiots

The pressure of studies and succeeding takes a toll on a student’s mental health. Depression is a very common problem with the youth. This movie was a blockbuster but one scene where a student hangs himself in his hostel room and the words ‘I Quit’ written on the wall became the talk of the town. This movie became a landmark as it spoke about the high rate of suicide in India caused due to educational pressure.

Kaabil

The movie is based on a blind couple where the girl is raped twice and she doesn’t share it with her husband and hangs herself. The movie tells that it’s not the correct way to punish the culprit, instead it requires patience and will power to stand for what is right.

Tamasha

It is one of the finest movies which showed how a person’s daily routine can be affected after suffering from borderline personality disorder.

Dear Zindagi

The film shows how it should be completely acceptable in society to seek professional help while someone deals with anxiety leading to sleepless nights.

Karthik Calling Karthik

The film talks about dissociative identity disorder and schizophrenia. The best thing about the film is it handles the issue of mental disorder in a very sensitive manner.

Judgementall Hai Kya

This movie is about a woman who has deep-seated traumas about her father being abusive to her mother, so much so that she starts believing that all men are beasts. It portrayed her as someone who would hallucinate often as her trauma caused her to become schizophrenic.