Doctor G, review: A 124-minute operation, performed by a novice

G in the title could stand for ‘jee’, a suffix denoting respect, or for gynæcology. Neither is moniker material, so why title your film Doctor G? Because the protagonist is a male student of medicine and has his heart set on orthopædic studies and practice, but no seats are available in that branch of study and the only option is gynæcology. Pray, why the reluctance to study gynæcology? Because, he feels that, women prefer female doctors when they are looking for gynæcologists. And because his idol is man who is on orthopædic doctor. Add to that a breaking-up relationship, and you have a film. Or do you? Dr. G is the kind of film that moves from A to G, and stops there, without completing the alphabet by touching X, Y and Z. As a result, it turns out to be an unfulfilling experience and an unsuccessful operation.

 

Having completed his basic medical education, Uday ‘Guddu’ Gupta wants to specialise in orthopædic studies because a brother (probably a cousin) is a successful orthopædic doctor, and he himself had fractured his right arm shortly before school Board exams, and had to write his answers with his left hand. But there are no seats available in any medical college for this specialisation. Some seats are available, but they are in faraway towns, and he wants to study in his home town. After much effort, one seat is found, but it is taken by a female student. He goes and pleads with her to swap orthopædics with gynæcology, making way for him, but he gets a resounding “No”. He has no choice but to take the last gynæcology seat available, in the Bhopal Institute of Medical Sciences (BIMS), a class in which all the other students are girls. This is his home town, and he can be close to his widowed mother, so he accepts.

 

Meanwhile, his relationship with his girl-friend continues to slide downwards, till it is a final break-up. He has only two ‘friends’ left in his life, a lodger in his house and his idol. The lodger, Chaddi, is making repeated attempts to pass the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), failing every time. His idol, (cousin) Dr. Ashok Gupta, happily married, with two children, is apparently having an affair with a 17- year-old pre-medical student. At the hospital-cum-college (BIMS), he is greeted by a strict Head of the Department, Dr. Nandini Shrivastav, and a bunch of seniors who rag him no end. But one of them, a doctor named Fatima Siddiqui takes a liking to him. Trouble is, she just about to be engaged. That she is a Muslim and he a Hindu does not bother Uday. There is more, serious trouble, as his heart is not into his studies. All the time, he reads books of orthopædics, in the hope that he will get a seat in orthopædics next year, and turns out to be bad gynæcology student, making repeated blunders during his training.

 

Doctor G’s story is written by Sourabh Bharat and Vishal Wagh. Four writers have collaborated on the screenplay: Sumit Saxena, Saurabh Bharat, Vishal Wagh and director Anubhuti Kashyap herself, her debut in both capacities. Dialogue is credited to Sumit Saxena alone. Sister of director Anurag Kashyap, Anubhuti has been around for over a decade, working in various capacities, in films and TV. Doctor G is not an impressive debut. The film starts on the wrong foot, with Uday having a heart-to-heart chat with Chaddi, who is always shown without a shirt on any innerwear covering his upper half. Probably a chaddi (underwear) is all he wears, and hence his name. We are spared close-ups of his lower anatomy, but no reason is given for his strange predilection. The end of the tête-à- tête is supposed to lead to a funny dialogue, which turns out to be risqué, not funny.

 

People keep telling him that he cannot really hear the voice of girls, and towards the end, he admits that he cannot. There is hardly any trait about him that is likeable or positive, so, why is such a character a protagonist? And if he cannot, how can he suddenly start listening to them. Where does that leave him? At the college/hospital, we are shown only practical training and no theory being imparted at all. Do medical colleges put students on duty without and theoretical training whatsoever? Further, he is accused of blundering in gynæcological cases because he has a “male touch”. Towards the end of the film, he declares, in a eureka moment, that he has lost the male touch, which should make things so much easier for him. Tell me another! Then there is the kiss between Uday and Fatima. A hell of a lot is made of that kiss, which, in present day and time, seems anachronistic.

 

Having chosen gynæcology as the theme, the makers have had a free license to insert all kinds of double entendre, and directly vulgar content. One of the female doctors is known as KLPD, an acronym used to show the plight of someone who is led on by a woman, and when he is in a state of excitement, she backs out. Of course there is an explanation. In this case, the acronym stands for KumudLatha Pamulparthi Diwakaran. In one scene, a couple complain of no issues in spite of frequent sex and no complications or shortcomings. As they leave, the woman drops a note in Hindi that reads, “He does not know how to do it (sanitised version).” Much is made of two things. Firstly, Uday insists that women prefer female gynæcologists. He might be partly right, but it is also true that some of the best gynæcologists in the country were and are men. And this is Bhopal, a Tier II city, not a Tier III town or a district. So his fear sounds unfounded. Secondly, his mother becomes active on social media and starts dating a single old man, which he finds unacceptable. Wake Up Sid…Uday, this is 2022. That her character is very poorly written is beside the point. One can go on listing the off-colour, even obscene scenes (double whammy?), but space is a constraint. 

 

A confused, sexist and dumb character is what Ayushmann Khurrana plays. His effort to infuse some life into the persona shows, but so does his own lack of conviction. Comely and fit, Rakul Preet Singh as Fatima makes a better impression, her’s and her fiancé Arif (Paresh Pahuja)’s roles are among the better written delineations. Though trademark sideways tilt of head, followed by a half nod, are back in place, Shefali Shah has learnt to avoid shutting her eyes in the process. She is a good piece of casting and one can expect to see Dr. Nandini in some medical college. Sheeba Chaddha as Shobha, Uday’s mother, looks lost and her dialogue delivery seems deliberate and a bit slurred. As Ashok Gupta, Indraneil Sengupta is impactful. Lending support are Akash Sinha as Jagdish Sahay, Devas Dixit as Pappu Sahu, Priyam Saha as Dr. Jenny, Shraddha Jain as Dr. KumudLatha Pamulparthi Diwakaran, Ayesha Kaduskar as Kavya, Puja Sarup as Nurse Sunita, Karishma Singh as Dr. Ruchi, Anju Gaur as Dr. Bosky, Sharvari Deshpande as Priyanka Singh, Vinod Kumar Jaiswal as Raj Sharma and Jhumma Mitra as Dr. Madhavi Gossain.

 

Most of the scenes are indoors and brightly lit. The few outdoors shots are well shot too, by Eeshit Narain. Editor Prerna Saigal must have had a lot of work to do to get it past the censors. Yes, they have been liberal, but a lot must have ended in the deleted bin too. Granted that the film was granted an Adults Only certificate, that should not have been construed as a gateway to insulting the viewers’ intelligence. At least 15 minutes of the film needed to be excised. There is a strong dose by way of songs in the movie, and the background score goes bang bang. Ketan Sodha is responsible for the background score, while the songs are credited to Amit Trivedi, Sultan Sulemani and Amjad Nadeem Aamir. As many as eight songs dot the soundtrack, clocking a hefty 27 minutes. One of them is an item number, that comes on after the end credits, with no connection to the film. For once, lyrics are overall well-written, which is at variance with the film itself. Lyrics come from the pens of Puneet Sharma, Kumaar, Raj Shekhar and Amjad Nadeem. 

 

Umpteenth take on When Harry Met Sally, made 33 years ago, this one supplants the two lead characters into a medical institute and plays up several side-tracks, possibly to conceal the source of the inspiration. Doesn’t succeed. What we see unfolding on the screen is 124-minute C-section operation, performed by a novice, green-horn doctor, who botches it up, and stitches up, without delivering the baby. Admittedly, the film has some moments that are watchable, even enjoyable. That is why the liberal rating.

 

Rating: **

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H42M6qfsjTk