Film: Ankur Arora Murder Case
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Arjun Mathur, Vishakha Singh, Paoli Dam, Tisca Chopra and Manish Chaudhary Writer: Vikram Bhatt
Director: Suhail Tatari
Rating: ****
A mother watches her young son being wheeled into the operation theatre for a minor operation. The child never returns.
Medical negligence is passe. Medical arrogance is the new menace. Enter a
high-end seven-star hospital and you're bound to run into the
incredibly arrogant Dr. Asthana (Kay Kay Menon, back in fabulous form),
who addresses the media as though he was obliging them by giving out
information and who tells his junior, "Medicine is not just about
healing. It's also about making money. Who pays the bills of those who
can't afford them? The rich of course."
But of course.
The pragmatism underscoring the Hippocratic Oath bypasses the young
idealistic Rohan(Arjun Mathur), the intern who dares to speak out of
turn to question Dr. Asthana's supreme authority in the hospital.
Taking the conflict between the blase megalomaniacal medicine-man and
the idealistic intern as the central point in the plot, Vikram Bhatt has
written a script that is partly a conscience-pricking morality tale,
and partly a racy thriller set in the spick-and-span corridors of a
high-end hospital where, for the record, an eminent surgeon has just
goofed up.
But shhhh! No one in his intimidated medical team is allowed to speak of his horrid faux pas.
The "Ankur Arora Murder Case" is one of the most gripping moral dramas
in recent times. The deftly crafted script raises the question of right
and wrong in the medical profession without getting peachy or
hysterical. Somewhere, Dr. Asthana's medical arrogance connects with
each one of us who has in one way or another encountered deadends in
healthcare.
Looking at Kay Kay Menon's brilliantly underscored emphatically
italicised performance, I finally understood what was meant by the
Biblical proverb, "Physician, heal thyself".
Many portions of the pacy plot would seem excessively racy. The
post-interval helping seems specially eager to seek out unexpected
twists and turns. And that's fine. The idea of making a film on medical
ethics is to ensure that audiences' participation in the proceedings
never flags. To that extent, director Suhail Tatari (who earlier
directed the gripping thriller 'My Wife's Murder'), keeps the large
array of conflicted characters in a constant state of self-questioning
anxiety. It's cinematically a terrific space to be in. Tatari explores
that space with intelligence, sensitivity and some charm.
While not allowing us to forget that we are watching a medical thriller,
Tatari also gives deepened shape to various inter-relationships in the
plot. The characters are convincing and yet distant from what we
generally perceive to be authentic cinema. The narration moves on two
different levels: the headline-inspired pseudo-documentary and the
sprawling soap opera that life often throwns open in situations that we
see as too unreal to be happening.
The performances in both the first-half (the medical drama) and the
second-half (the courtroom conflict) are all supremely poised. The
actors assume brilliancy without getting compromised by the need to
shine. Tisca Arora's bereaved mother's act is so real and restrained!
She gives us goosebumps when after her son's death, she gets busy on her
smartphone to fob off the terrible reality of the tragedy. Really,
Tisca is one of our most underrated actresses.
Kay Kay Menon rediscovers the awe-inspiring actor within himself with a
performance that leaves us repelled and fascinated. Arjun Mathur as the
daring intern who takes on the mighty medicine man exudes integrity
without brimming over with righteous indignation. In an era when all our
filmy heroes are growing stubbles and trying to look mean, Arjun plays a
true-blue old-fashioned hero (the kind who used to fight for the truth)
in a very contemporary context and style.
Paoli Dam, who had played a sexually intense role in "Hate Story",
undergoes a personality volte face. As a lawyer battling on behalf of
the powerful medical mafia, she pitches a poignant but strong
performance. Some of the film's most powerful moments feature Paoli with
her courtroom opponent (Manish Chaudhury, brilliant) in bed and on the
brink. The way Paoli and Tisca connect as two grieving mothers, is a
masterstroke of scripting.
Indeed, this is is a far cleverer, wiser and relevant film than most of
what we get to see these days. At a time when Bollywood is raining
bubbles and effervescence about
'jawaani deewanis' and 'yamla paglas', this sobering clenched disturbing
medical thriller comes as an invigorating cloudburst. The film makes
out a scathing and rousing case against medical malpractices.
Bursting at the seams with acting talent, director Suhail Tatari's
restorative drama hits us where it hurts the most. The conscience.
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