This serious mental condition needs to be discussed or pictured compassionately. On the big screen, two such films immediately come to the fore A Beautiful Mind is based on the true story of John Nash (Russel Crowe), Nobel laureate in Economics and a paranoid schizophrenia sufferer who believes that he has been hired by an official of the US Department of Defence to decode cryptic Russian messages. In 15, Park Avenue, Konkona-Sen Sharma portrays a schizophrenic woman, certain that she has to locate her husband and five children who are non-existent.

On August 7, Kaun Qamarara, which also brought the curtain down on the Hum Telefilm Festival 2010, focused on this emotional disorder and that too with remarkable sensitivity and fine acting. Nosheen (Faiza Hasan) is the young wife of the ageing Nawab Roshan Ali Khan (Shakeel) and both of them lead lonely lives in a haveli.

An old, loyal servant is at the beck and call of Khan whose sole concern is to maintain his immaculate outward appearance as befits a person of his stature. His callow consort is herself given to much ceremony, such as enveloping paans along with all its paraphernalia, dollying up in expensive saris and ornaments when going for monthly visits to the old citizens grant committee to collect her husband's pension.

But beneath this sluggish existence, the nawab's mental health is suffering he has hallucinations about the Viceroy visiting him and that Nosheen is really Qamarara, his former lover who coincidentally was her mother.

All this bewilders the young woman who, despite her love for him, frequently tongue-lashes him and also sobs quietly for she is unable to handle his condition. It is only when the officials from the grant committee drop by to ascertain the grounds for increasing the monthly grant, do they see the broken down personalities of the husband and wife. The nawab, deemed more dangerous by officials, is sent to psychiatric care where he slowly recovers. But by then Nosheen loses her mental balance as she is convinced of being Qamarara.

Faiza Hasan has been in the television industry for quite some time and puts up a surprisingly confident performance against Shakeel, the formidable veteran actor. The young actress is coquettish, bitter, pathetic and depressed as and when the scene requires, and Shakeel is superb as the schizophrenic Nawab Roshan.

Credit must be handed to the director Sakina Samoon for extracting such nuanced performances. The plot and dialogues written by Be Gul were strong, well-written replete with nawabi lingo lending authenticity and interest for the viewer.

Finally, the Hum telefilm festival saved the best for the last, that is Kaun Qamarara. Otherwise their previous offerings left much to be desired. With the exception of Tehreem, Zainabay, Silvat, Gullu Ustad and Rung, the rest left little impact.