A second blow to the head: Use of amnesia in movies and television

Alak Mukherjee, played by Uttam Kumar, was just staring into a blank space inside his hospital room. "Mr. Mukharjee?" said a nurse as she walked into the room, but Alak did not respond. She called out to him again, but she was met with silence once more. 

The nurse touched Alak on the shoulder, and he turned to face her. Alak had a lost expression on his face. He was dressed in a suit, but his hair was dishevelled, and his beard was overgrown.

"Your mother has come to see you," the nurse said to him as she pointed to the door. There stood a woman dressed in a white saree. She slowly walked towards him and held him in her arms. "Khoka, khoka, khoka," she said over and over in a distraught voice.  

Alak looked confused. He did not recognise the name. "You are mistaken," he replied and he walked away. 

In the 1957 film, Harano Sur, Alak Mukherjee had lost all of his memories after surviving a train accident.  He received treatment from doctor Roma Banerjee (Suchitra Sen). The two fell in love and eventually got married. A second accident, however, made Alak remember who he was – a rich businessman from Kolkata – but it came at a cost. It made him forget about the time he had spent with Roma. 

Roma followed Alak back to the city, but he did not recognise her when she approached him. In an attempt to stay close to Alak and make him remember, Roma takes a job of a governess for his niece. 

Amnesia is perhaps one of the most overused tropes in film, especially for Dhallywood and Bollywood. It was one of the key elements to move the plot forward for films such as Tumi Acho Tumi Nei (2021) starring Asif Imrose, Dighi and Amit Hasan, Sadma (1983) starring Sridevi and Kamal Haasan; Ghanchakkar (2013) starring Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan; Ghajini (2008) starring Amir Khan; Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012) starring Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma; and Yakeen (2005) starring Arjun Rampal and Priyanka Chopra; amongst numerous others.   

As for soap operas, it is perhaps harder to find a series that has not used amnesia to move a story forward. It is almost as common as extramarital affairs in the genre. 

Television and films are a major part of modern culture and tend to have a big influence on its audience. So, how real are the amnesia troupes we see on film so often?   

A contrived plot device? 

Real amnesia, more often than not, is a lot less dramatic than its movie or television variants. The fictional kind often works as needed for a plot to move forward or serve as an emotional payoff; the character only loses specific memories.

Though he has never used amnesia in any of his films, Award-winning Bangladeshi director Kazi Hayat said, "The story often takes filmmakers there. Commercial films use it to create drama, and the audience definitely seems to like it." 

A lot of artistic freedom is often exercised in movie amnesia to introduce a twist at the end, to turn a villain into a hero and vice-versa, or to establish an interesting mystery to solve. An amnesiac character is an easy blank slate to set up the perfect enigmatic storyline. But when characters and relationships are just written into a corner, the plot sometimes demands a hard reset. 

One can even argue that it is a contrived plot device used in film and literature, to which Kazi replied, "Films are not reality. People want strange and unordinary."

Delwar Jahan Jhantu is a Bangladeshi film director who has used amnesia in a lot of his movies. He used the plot device in Harano Prem (1996) and Tumi Acho Tumi Nei (2021), amongst many others. 

"I use amnesia in my films to bring variation to my stories," he said. And he too echoed the point that "audiences seem to enjoy these types of stories." 

However, he does not agree that the use of amnesia is an easy or contrived plot device. 

"Our culture is very similar to that of India, but it is very different from the western world. This is why you see more amnesia stories in Dhallywood and Bollywood," he said. 

"A conniving wife destroying her husband's relationship with his parents is an easy story. Amnesia stories are not easy at all," he added.   

What they get right, and wrong

The science used in movies is lightly based on facts, emphasis on the word "lightly". One would think that amnesia is a crippling disorder, but it can be as simple as forgetting memories as little as a few minutes, to even a few seconds. Forgetting to do a chore like your spouse had asked is normal. Forgetting that you are married can be a sign of amnesia.

Amnesia occurs when one suffers from an injury, disease or deficiency that affects the brain. As Dr M S Jahirul Hoque Chowdhury of National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital explained, "In most cases of amnesia that we come across, people suffer from a loss of recent memories."

"Amnesia can be a symptom of neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. It can also occur due to a stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain tumour, deficiency of vitamin B6 and B12, epilepsy, and systemic illnesses that affect the brain," he added.   

There are many types of amnesia in the real world, but movie amnesias commonly portray retrograde amnesia – inability to recall things that happened in the past – and anterograde amnesia – inability to make new memories. 

In the movie 'The Hangover', the central characters wake up from a drug-and-alcohol binge with no memory of the night before. This is an example of drug-induced amnesia. 

Amnesia can also affect one's personality. As Dr Jahir explained, "People suffer from varying levels of amnesia and we employ several techniques to determine its severity. The higher levels have more of an impact on one's personality." 

Amnesia can be temporary (after a head injury as the brain heals), permanent and unchanging, (after a serious disease like encephalitis or a stroke) and progressive or slowly getting worse (due to dementia or similar disorders).

There are no medications that can cure amnesia unfortunately. But disorders can improve as the brain heals in some cases. When memory loss is persistent, there are also skills one can learn to compensate.

"Amnesia is more common amongst the elderly. However, people in Bangladesh don't come to see us during their early stages. We mostly treat patients who are in their late stages," said Dr Jahir. "People should see the doctor as soon as they first start exhibiting symptoms."   

As reported by the BBC a study, conducted in the US in 2004, revealed that almost 42% of respondents agreed with the statement: "Sometimes a second blow to the head can help a person remember things that were forgotten." In Britain, 26% of those surveyed believed it was true.

However, a second blow to the head will not cure the symptoms of amnesia. In fact, it can potentially be fatal.