Cinematic Medicine: Narratives of Medical Practice in Bollywood Movies

The paper titled Cinematic Medicine: Narratives of Medical Practice in Bollywood Movies throws light on the changing portrayal of doctors in Bollywood films. The research explores films to study the perception of the common public towards doctors as their Doctor- God or Doctor- Hero. The culture of ‘Stereotyping’ of doctors is prevalent in society where ‘healers’ of life-threatening diseases are worshipped as Gods. The research paper examines the doctor- patient relationship in terms of a ‘dyad’, a technical term used to describe something that consists of two parts. Therefore, the two- fold relationship of the doctor and patient can be explored as a dyadic bond. According to this theory, the patient gaze regards the doctor as the ‘moral agent’ as he is looked upon as the thinker, decision maker and controller of the ailment while the patient’s dire need for medication makes him/ her the ‘feeler’ of the action/ treatment. According to the dyadic structure, their roles are irreversible. The doctor cannot be the patient/feeler and the patient cannot be the thinker/ moral agent as they possess different cognitive capacities and their role positions them in a superior - subordinate position in the dyad. The paper, thus, by examines the Doctor- patient dyad as a cultural stereotype and myth through the films, Kabir Singh (2019) and Doctor G (2022). These films also depict doctors as flawed human beings whose ideology and actions are shaped by their socio-economic realities. Both films depict the physical and emotional turmoil that doctors go through to meet their financial goals and societal expectations. From being glorified to facing humiliation, these films depict a wide range of emotions which portray them as human beings; thereby moving away from the universal cult of Stereotyping.