The brand Ayushmann Khurrana is known for taking up themes that have some social stigma attached to them, and so far, he has managed to have an excellent record in maintaining that brand. Of late, the preachiness of the movies was somewhat of a problem. But with Doctor G, the brand hits the sweet spot, delivering an emotionally winning drama about a man’s evolution.
Uday Gupta always wanted to be an Orthopedic doctor, but for his PG, he couldn’t manage to get a seat for that. Uday reluctantly joined gynecology at the Bhopal institute of medical sciences, thinking that he would give Ortho a shot next year. But Uday’s department head Nandini Srivastav was not someone who would take his attitude lightly, and how the decision to pursue gynecology changes Uday’s way of looking at women is what we see in Doctor G.
Anubhuti Kashyap knows how to feed the audience without underestimating their intelligence. In most parts of the first half, it is that typical Ayushmann Khurrana movie where you have a frustrated Ayushmann dealing with self-centered problems. And just like any of his other films, the milieu of the urban middle-class life makes those hurdles look funny on screen. The leap the film takes in the second half is what makes it an emotionally winning film. Anubhuti and her writers are not trying to play it safe by creating a generic conflict. The ethical murkiness of the mess in which Uday gets involved is not only used as a mere conflict. It also gives the movie a solid track to present the central character’s transition.
On its periphery, Doctor G may look like a guy’s acceptance issue in being a gynecologist. But by using that plot, they are showing a large section of men who are reluctant to understand women. The promo material where they show Uday’s judgemental attitude towards his ex-girlfriend hilariously shows the real cause of all the assumptions. The reluctance to look at the vagina, his inability to be just a friend with a girl he likes, the difficulty in accepting that his mother can be looking for relationships at a late age, etc., are all the hurdles happening at various points in Gupta’s transition and Anubhuti is not making it a movie where one slap fixes everything. Even the role model Uday has chosen feels problematic from the beginning.
Ayushmann Khurrana was able to get into the skin of that guy with middle-class exposure very effortlessly. The way Uday Gupta becomes possessive about his girlfriends and how he assumes them as opportunists can easily look very cartoonish due to the kind of logic the character applies. But Ayushmann manages to make those outbursts of the character look very real. Rakul Preet Singh’s Fatima Siddiqui has relevance in the plot as she plays a crucial role in making Uday understand certain things. Shefali Shah, as the department head Nandini uses her striking screen presence to deliver that character’s clarity in every statement. As a performer, my favorite one was Sheeba Chaddha, who transitioned from an ignorant, funny mother to an unapologetic badass mummy who showed her son his narrow-mindedness. Abhay Mishra as Uday’s best friend, Chaddi, was really hilarious. Ayesha Kaduskar as Kavya deserves a special mention for her mature performance.
Doctor G is that educative movie that wants to move the audience. But luckily, the path they have taken to achieve that isn’t preachy. The first half fun focuses on a male doctor’s blending-in issues in a female-dominated terrain. But in the second half, the film gets a very serious tone. Interestingly, all the subplots that dealt with Dr. Gupta’s problematic aspects blended in the final act to make the movie an emotionally overwhelming comedy.
Doctor G is that educative movie that wants to move the audience. But luckily, the path they have taken to achieve that isn't preachy.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
