Doctors: A heartwarming, unfiltered glimpse into the lives behind white coats.
The opening two-fold sequence of the show Doctors, sets the tone of the drama to follow. It does a quick round of introductions with respect to its characters in a partly scattered form that felt like a checklist – the rebellious one with a septum, the topper of a batch, a rags to riches candidate and one with a vengeance. This introduction is briefly cut short in the wake of first of the many ‘Emergencies’ that you witness with a typical setting of an ambulance rushing to the characters (who are doctors) being assigned duties. As a parallel, the focus remains on Nitya (Harleen Sethi) who has entered the fray by taking up duties at the hospital to avenge the state of her brother Dhaval (Aamir Ali) who has been suffering from a bout of negligence caused by Dr. Ishaan (Sharad Kelkar). This, even as you witness the former dilligently participating in various chores while showcasing her vulnerability, both with respect to her hidden quest and her current situation of a string of medical emergencies that she is a part of.
The tropes of the medical drama are familiar but understated while resorting to a string of issues that it wishes to address through its characters. For instance, you witness a character suffering from bouts of anxiety that force her to consume pills thereby affecting her health. Elsewhere, you are privy to a character undergoing a nervous mental breakdown after being suspended for a bout of negligence that was actually committed by his peer. These are brief moments that are successful in highlighting the kind of work pressures that the characters are subjected to – one of it also being the sense of detachment that is a part of the occupational hazard even as you witness a bunch of characters inquiring about the time of death rather nonchalantly at various junctures in the screenplay, even as the ‘freshers’ find it hard to move on.
The proceedings are sincere and earnest while mixing intensity with precaution, two key ingredients of the drama with respect to its two parallel plot points – the ones involving the jazzy medical procedurals which are performed at various instances is met with the right kinds of intensities, while the budding love stories are met with caution and an underlying layer of warmth and sincerity. The latter is true for a bunch of characters that simultaneously adds to the complexity of the drama with respect to the character dynamics – Nitya falls for Ishan who is engaged to Dr. Lekha, much to the dismay of her brother who has also been an ex of Dr. Lekha, you get the gist. But the flesh of the drama is heavily constructed by the individual episodic elements with the lens of morality that is blurred with respect to a few issues thereby layering its drama – in a scene you see a character pleading for euthanasia, in another, you see a couple of characters being pleaded to use their brain-dead son’s organs in another procedure involving a different set of characters. Much of the episodes transpire in the background with respect to the resolution, with the lens of the doctors acting as a fulcrum for showcasing parts that are only relevant to them.
The writing here is committed to approach the situations with an understated approach while immersing itself within the four walls of the hospital which in turn might feel slightly repetitive while familiarizing the viewers with the mundane lives of its characters. Having said that, I would have liked a little more purpose in its writing that at times flattens out some key conflicts with some cliched solutions that collectively make the drama predictable. For instance, a character trying to resolve an existing feud on her death bed did come across as a little cliched, even as the extent of the bitter feud remained an unchartered territory (you only get a little glimpse through a character common to both parties). Likewise, the middle ground between a few character dynamics remains the missing link – a couple of character indulging in a rebound come to terms with it pretty soon. Yet, it can’t be denied that the writing focuses on the vibes between characters that in turn results in some heartfelt emotions along the way. The transition between an operated virtual simulation to the actual one was an arc in itself that did make for a heartwarming watch.
Overall, its a feel-good and the screenplay is a little scattered to begin with but does make amends as the drama unfolds.
Beyond the Cinema's 