The Indian film industry is now into films dealing with the tribulations of those suffering from schizophrenia and depicting the inner layering of a traumatized mind.

The whole trend of penetrating the unsettled mindset started with Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind".

In what is arguably one of the finest performances ever by an actor, Russell Crowe starred as the schizophrenic professor of mathematics John Forbes Nash.

Since then cinema in both India and Hollywood has been seeing things that are otherwise not visible on camera. Attempts to probe troubled and tortured minds have become a consistent part of the cinematic language.

In India, several brave efforts have been made by mainstream actors to play tortured minds. From Hrithik Roshan in "Koi...Mil Gaya" to Ajay Devgan in "Main Aisa Hi Hoon", the mind has become a playground of illimitable exploration in Hindi cinema.

Last year, Bipasha Basu even attempted a female version of Crowe's "A Beautiful Mind" in a film called "Madhosh".

However, it takes a lot more skill than is outwardly apparent to play a troubled mind.

In the recently released Marathi film "Devrai" the very accomplished actor Atul Kulkarni succeeds to a vast degree in bringing alive the tortured uncertainties of a schizophrenic mind.

The film, directed by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, isn't only remarkable for the way it crystallizes the pain-lashed protagonist Shesh's twisted mind but also because it goes into the minds of those who suffer with the ill person.

Very often it's the patient's loved ones who require infinite patience and, in fact, suffer a trauma equal to the sick person. In "Devrai" we see how the schizophrenic's sister (a hauntingly vivid Sonali Kulkarni) is positioned in a precarious seesaw between her brother and peeved husband (Tushar Dalvi).

The husband is rightly concerned about the effect that his wife's brother's unpredictable behavior would have on his professional and domestic life.

The narrative never resorts to cheap black-and-white simplifications to drive in its point. Instead we see the characters as being trapped in a situation that they cannot control and are most of the time unable to fathom fully.

As played by Atul Kulkarni, Shesh's mind is a labyrinth of mysteries begging to be unravelled. The process is macro-cosmic. We see Shesh lost in his own world as well as lost in the world of normal people.

Surrounding Shesh are blessedly compassionate people including a girlfriend from the past who agrees to accompany him back to his village to look after him. Such idealism cuts into the reality of the situation where mentally ill people are not just shunned, the true nature of their illness often remains undetected.

Despite the rose-tinted culmination, "Devrai" is remarkably successful in piercing and probing the protagonist's restless mind. Layer by layer the film penetrates Shesh's psychological trauma and permits the people around him (that includes the viewers) to come emotionally closer to him.

That this commendably plotted and narrated film is in Marathi is a matter of choice rather than chance. The language certainly doesn't dictate the film's purpose and mood. Cinematographer Debu Deodhar picks through the thick foliage of the greenery almost as if it were symbolic of the tangles in the protagonist's mind.

"Devrai" is a wonderful vehicle for the underutilized Atul Kulkarni. This is his chance to sink his teeth into the mind of a character who affords no simple explanations and analyses. The character's complexities are gently decoded. And we are left to look at a character who suffers because he can see and feel things others can't.

"Devrai" is a mirror of the pain that people suffer for being non-conformists. Its facile pace and likeable easy-going performances make it accessible to the maximum number of people.

It's time we looked at the cinema of ideas with a penetrating gaze rather than a cursory glance. "Devrai" compels us to hold our gaze steadily on a character who is shaken by his own mind. We can't ignore his pain. The film doesn't allow us the luxury of dismissal.