Manpriya Singh

Only in 2016, Kareena Kapoor Khans white coat, stethoscope-clad character in Udta Punjab was too sacrificial to be real. Only soldiers risk their lives in the line of duty... right? Till corona made us reassess their contribution to society! Today on Doctors Day, we celebrate both the reel and real-life doctors.

Real doctors in reel life

As the recent national debates may have pointed out there is no dearth of school and college drop-outs in showbiz, but even an exhaustive search model will hardly throw up more than a couple of doctor- actor names.

Laughs Aditi Govitrikar, an MBBS, who also got her psychology degree lately, In fact, there is a wow factor attached to the degree in showbiz; when people learn that I am a qualified doctor, they give that expression. However, she got offered the role of a doctor only last year with a Marathi film Smile Please, wherein she plays a psychiatrist. Among the countless international medical series weve had, from MASH to Scrubs, Greys Anatomy is what she feels portrayed doctors in real time.

Bollywoods dear doctors

B-towns onscreen doctors have often done justice to the medical community, starting from Hrishikesh Mukherjees Anand in 1971, wherein Amitabh Bachchan plays a doctor friend to his cancer patient. Tapan Sinhas National Award-winning drama Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990) is what actually makes you forgive all the uber qualified doctors who migrated to greener pastures.

Of all the doctors eternalised on 70-mm screen, the favourite happens to be the one who doesnt deserve to be in medical college! For he truly deserved to be in cinema halls instead. Rajkumar Hiranis Munna Bhai redefined the acronym MBBS for us in 2003. On a serious note, the film brought to the fore the stress faced by medical fraternity and those aspiring for an entry into a prestigious medical college.

City doctors, unplugged

One thing Dr Mandeep S Dhillon, Head, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, PGIMER, loves about his profession is, When you see a smile on a cured patients face. It is a very satisfying feeling to say the least.As for his favourite medical series, he adds, I havent seen any actually. Greys Anatomy I believe is more of romance than a medical drama.

For Dr Sunil Kumar Agrawal, Head, Neonatology, Fortis Hospital, Mohali, who enjoys cycling and dancing, Series is too much of a commitment of time but, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie Munna Bhai MBBS.

manpriya@tribunemail.com

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Happy prescription - The Tribune India