The second edition of Manotsava, a festival on mental health, will focus not only on mental illness “but also on well-being,” says Rohini Nilekani, chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies (RNPF), which is organising the event in partnership with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), and the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). “We learnt a lot last year, and the team has really worked hard to apply it,” she says of the festival, which will be held on November 8 and 9 at The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru.
At the 2024 edition of Manotsava
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Special Arrangement
Themes that will be explored at the festival include maternal mental health, workplace burnout, technological tools to support mental health, genetic research, psychedelics, the science of the gut-microbiome and the impact of sexuality on mental health. Dr Pratima Murthy, Director, NIMHANS, says that some sessions will examine mental health across different life stages of human beings, including pregnancy, adolescence and ageing and explore “how do you make it a very positive experience and recognise mental health distress and disorders that can come in.”
The other aspects the festival will examine are the changing times we live in, both the challenges and opportunities presented by them, as well as the linkages between mental, social, physical, and spiritual well-being.
At the 2024 edition of Manotsava
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Special Arrangement
These ideas will be explored at the festival in panel discussions, talks, stalls, exhibits, workshops, discussions and a music performance. There will also be a series of pre-fest events as well as a dedicated children’s zone at the festival.
LS Shashidhara, director of NCBS, elaborates on the diverse nature of the events and participants at Manotsava: “In a festival like this, hundreds of people can come and congregate to understand different issues and ways to prevent some of these tensions and anxieties.” Additionally, “they also have the opportunity to interact with scientists, clinicians and experts,” so that “they become more knowledgeable and can help spread this message to others.”
Rohini Nilekani, Dr Pratima Murthy and LS Shashidhara
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Special Arrangement
The keynote speakers at the event are Dr Richie Davidson (Centre for Healthy Minds), Rohini Nilekani (Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon Groups) and Nithin Kamath (Zerodha). The list also include Dr Prabha Chandra (NIMHANS), Prof Vidita Vaidya (TIFR Mumbai), Dr Kaz De Jong (Médecins Sans Frontières), Dr Amit Malik (Amaha), and Prof Surya Dolla (IIT Bombay), among others.
The festival will not shy away from having difficult conversations about mental well-being. One such panel discussion is titled ‘Suicidality – A Concern for All.’ Among the panellists is Neha Kirpal, co-founder of Amaha Health, and part of the founding cohort of the India Mental Health Alliance, who lost her younger sibling to suicide and feels strongly about the importance of speaking about the issue. In her opinion, when a suicide happens, a lot of attention is devoted to examining the proximate trigger that leads to a tragedy of this nature, such as examining the type of fans being installed in dorm rooms.
Neha Kirpal
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“But we are not looking at the reasons why the crisis is coming about in the first place. It could be loneliness, lack of connection, peer pressure, bullying or drug addiction,” says Neha, co-author of Homecoming, an anthology that brings together the lived experiences of women leaders navigating severe mental health conditions. “Looking at the cause, rather than just treating the symptoms and outcomes, is really important. Otherwise, we will always be playing catch-up.”
To know more, log in to www.nationalmentalhealthfestival.com
Published – November 07, 2025 11:15 am IST
