Filmmaker Bramhanand Singh attempts to remove such misconceptions about Alzheimer's disease in a 45-minute documentary titled A Burden of Love which will be screened at the Max Mueller Bhavan on November 2 as part of the ongoing Ageing In India theme. The film screening, along with other complimentary events, commemorates the International Year of the Elderly.

A Burden of Love is a study of the nature of Alzheimer's disease, which starts with memory loss and progresses to various disabilities like loss of body control and abnormal behaviour for persons above 60. Singh and co-director Priti Chandriani have zeroed in on six-Alzheimer's patients, ranging from the acutely-affected to the borderline cases. The documentary is woven intointerviews of patients, their relatives/caretakers and medical professionals who expose the severe lack of definite cure for the dreaded illness. While over three million people suffer from this disease in India, there is hardly any research undertaken to understand its initial symptoms.

As Singh puts it, ``While some dismiss it a rich man's illness, others associate it with mere forgetfulness in old age. The film makes people aware of the characteristics of the unknown, but widely prevalent impairment. Except for the research done by the Cochi-based Dr Jacob Roy's Alzhiemer's and Related Disorders Society of India, there is no effort to study the illness in this country.'' The apathy in detecting the cause of the Alzheimer's syndrome is surprising because India has over 60 million aged population which is most vulnerable to it, Singh added.

Singh started working on the Alzheimer's disease around three years ago. ``As I started reading about the disease, I remembered old people in my family who hadbehaved abnormally. I wondered if they suffered from Alzheimer's. I wished they could be treated more sympathetically since the medical profession hardly has any treatment for them,'' he lamented. Singh said he came in contact with almost all people/institutions working in this field. He visited the patients and families regularly, some of whom were situated in remote Nevada village of Haryana. And from a film footage of over 25 hours was made A Burden of Love. This film has been screened at the international film festival as well as the International Conference on the Alzheimer's Disease.

Singh got so involved in the subject that he is going to direct a full-length feature film on Alzheimer's illness. Titled Surmayee Shaam, the film features a broken family which is brought together by an Alzheimer's patient.