Film Appreciation— Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990)
Indian cinema has always lacked a sensibly themed science narrative. Although some excellent films in the biopic genre have been produced by noted directors, stories about men of science have mostly remained in the realm of documentaries and failed to capture the fancy of Indian film directors. However, if we were to name one Hindi film that realistically portrays a scientist’s single-minded determination in a solitary pursuit and the struggle for recognition in an archetypal Indian bureaucratic setup mired with red tape, then the only name that comes to mind is Tapan Sinha’s 1990 classic ‘Ek Doctor Ki Maut.’
The movie is based on the story ‘Abhimanyu’ written in late ’70s by Ramapada Choudhary, a noted Bengali writer. The character of the protagonist in the story was inspired from the tragic life of Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay, the first doctor in India to have carried out In-vitro fertilization (test-tube baby) successfully. However, sadly he could not endure the ensuing social ostracization, bureaucratic negligence and utter apathy from government towards his pathbreaking work and eventually committed suicide. This critically acclaimed movie made a lasting emotional impact on my conscious mind in my teenage years. Off-course I was not aware of this fact back then.
The movie boasts of some really talented casts with Pankaj Kapoor playing the protagonist, Dr. Dipankar Roy and Shabana Azmi in the role of his wife Seema. The film also features other accomplished actors such as Anil Chatterji, Irfan Khan, Deepa Sahi and Vijayendra Ghatge. Produced by NFDC, the film had won national awards in 1990 for best direction along with other regional awards. A special jury award was presented to Pankaj Kapoor for his brilliant portrayal of Dr. Dipankar Roy.
The opening scene of the movie shows a small group of squeaking lab mice confined to a wire cage. As the camera pans slowly to the right while the titles roll by, it reveals more of these caged creatures, eventually coming to rest on one such enclosure. At this moment, a rubber-gloved hand, presumably Dr. Dipankar Roy’s, reaches out into it and takes out a mouse. Next, he’s shown giving a vaccine shot to the distressed creature while reassuring it in a comforting tone.
Dr. Dipankar Roy works as a doctor in a nondescript public hospital during the day but pursues his private research at night in his makeshift laboratory at home. For the last 10 years he’s been single-mindedly working towards inventing a vaccine for Leprosy but without much success. Unable to carry on his costly research with his meagre salary, he’s financially supported by his wife, Seema, who is a pragmatic yet a compassionate woman.
After years of painstaking research with occasional support from his mentor Dr. Kundu (played by veteran Bengali actor Anil Chatterjee), one day he discovers vaccine for Leprosy. Upon knowing his successes with his experiments, his over-enthusiastic journalist acquaintance Amulya (Irfan Khan), who until now had kept a close eye on his research, publishes it in the newspapers prematurely. The news is flashed all over in media and overnight Dipankar is catapulted to international recognition. Reading his success story from the newspapers, Seema is taken by surprise and begins to realize the importance of his breakthrough work. But Dipankar was in for a rude shock. The newspaper carried, along with the news about his primary research on vaccine for Leprosy, an observation on the possible side-effect of the vaccine which could cure female sterility. The observation was presented on the back of his experiments on a female monkey. This innocent observation of his creates a huge controversy and soon he had to face barrage of protests from a group of doctors out of professional jealousy.
Following an intense lobbying by a group of doctors, he’s summoned by health secretary to explain his case to Director of Health. Director of Health, a grumpy man, instead of praising his work and promising to extend support, reprimands him for breaking news in the press and calls his research, a bluff. Dr. Roy loses his cool and insults DoH. Sensing the troubles ahead, Dr Kundu dispatches a copy of Dr. Roy’s notes to John Anderson Foundation in UK without his knowledge. DoH, in the meanwhile, issues orders to transfer Dr. Roy to a remote village hospital making it all the more difficult for him to complete his research papers. John Anderson foundation’s response to Dr. Roy gets buried into government’s red-tape and never reaches him. Not seeing any reply from dr. Roy, Dr. Emily Bernard from the Anderson Foundation lands up in the remote village to meet Dr. Roy in person and understands about his research work. Upon returning to London, she writes back to DoH formally inviting Dr. Roy to the foundation with his research papers. At this time Dr. Roy’s childhood friend Dr. Arijit, a respected doctor and quite influential among his peers, comes to his rescue. He warns DoH of the political repercussions of not allowing Dr. Roy to travel to UK. However, DoH, continuing its harassment, informs Dr. Roy that without his work being validated by a high-level inquiry committee, government cannot allow him to travel. The Enquiry committee turns out to be a sham. By intense grilling by committee members Dr. Roy soon starts growing impatient and loses his cool. Having been bitterly ridiculed, Dr. Roy goes berserk and walks out of the room. While all this is being played out, a news about two American doctors credited for the discovery of a leprosy vaccine is flashed on the tv leaving Dr. Roy in shatters.
Pankaj Kapoor’s accurate portrayal of the all-consuming passion of a scientist in his pursuit and with his idiosyncrasies- revealed in the daily subtle unmindful acts — is simply brilliant and is definitely worthy of highest praise. His realistic sketch of a self-absorbed person and his eccentrics — the occasional mood flips from being an utterly insensitive person with an irritable disposition to a loving and caring husband- or bursting into a hearty laugh or jumping to a completely unrelated topic in the middle of a heated exchange — or break into singing or have quick jog/shower in middle of the night — is simply outstanding. In one scene, while performing some test in his lab, Dr. Roy runs out of gas in the middle of the experiment. He leaps out at once and enters into the kitchen; grabs the stove by one hand while holding by test-tube by the pincer in the other and runs back to the lab all the while remaining completely unaware that his wife is cooking for him on the same stove.
Dipankar continues with his research remaining oblivious to various sacrifices Seema had to make almost every day. Dipankar’s obsession with his research and his late nights spent alone in the lab enrages her and leaves her feeling neglected and insufficient. Her resentment and disapproval of his self-centered behavior are customarily dismissed by Dipankar as pointless. The film is peppered with such encounters in which both actors convincingly brought this strained relationship to life on the screen. In opening scene, Seema quietly walks into Dipankar’s lab late one night and starts complaining about him working late every day on a fruitless endeavor. Rebuking coldly, he asks her to go away and let him work in peace for he’s getting some interesting results; but she doesn’t budge and says she’s been hearing enough of these ‘interesting results” for the last 10 years each time ending up in a big nothing; to which he blurts out, “if this is disturbing your sleep, popping few sleeping pills will help”.
The haunting background score in the film by Vanaraj Bhatia is central to creating an overall cinematic experience and lends a deeper element of reality to the film’s narrative. Film’s shot by Soumenmdu Roy, an acclaimed cinematographer, who has created some of the lasting images while working with luminaries such as Satyajit Ray, MS Sathyu and Buddhadeb Dasgupta. Besides the powerful performances by Pankaj Kapoor, Shabana Azmi and the rest of the cast, the film is completely owned by Tapan Sinha. The screenplay is impactful, focused and inspiring. The dialogues aptly portray the intense determination and inner struggle of a research scientist.
Ek Doctor ki Maut, is a poignant social drama elevated by performances by casts of highest calibers. It is highly unfortunate that films based on topics like these hardly find any mainstream audience.