Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991) - (Movies To See Before You Die - Drama)

The corrupt, unethical and shameful condition of Indian bureaucracy is not a hidden or unknown fact for anyone living in today’s media driven world. But unfortunately the condition was exactly the same few decades’ back too. And that is the reason why this subject about the awful working style in the government offices has been a favourite of many writers and directors in the past as well as in the present.

Just few years before, the small screen gave us a brilliant serial on this theme called “Office Office” and recently in the present year we had a fine movie coming from the house of the maestro Shyam Benegal made around the departmental corruption in villages titled “Well Done Abba”. However, till date the most powerful, believable and meaningful piece of art on this relevant topic remains “Ek Doctor Ki Maut” directed by Tapan Sinha, featuring the gifted actor Pankaj Kapoor in the role of a talented but ignored ambitious scientist.

The film is an honest interpretation of the pain and helplessness felt by a man who loves his profession and who remains deprived of the fame he truly deserved for his medical discovery. The open conflict of a doctor, who very well knows what he is doing, clearly reveals the sick minds of the people around him posing as his higher officials. Apart from the bureaucracy, the film also talks about the difficult relationship between an obsessed husband and a caring wife. The story truthfully portrays the ugliness behind the professional jealousy, responsible for not giving a deserving candidate an opportunity at the right time and at the right place. Supported by artists such as Shabana Azmi and Irfan Khan, it is indisputably among the best works of both the director Tapan Sinha and the exceptional actor Pankaj Kapoor.

And this is the same Pankaj Kapoor who after more than a decade, once again mocked about the faulty system in a comic way in his award winning serial “Office Office”.  And he was equally brilliant in both his ways of cursing the bureaucracy.

In short, If you love artistic kind of meaningful movies and still haven’t seen this then you are truly missing a commendable achievement of Indian Cinema. A film which deserves to be shown not only in theaters, but in school, colleges and all technical institutions to teach the value of man and his indefinite capabilities. Highly recommended!

Written and Directed By Tapan Sinha
Starring : Pankaj Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Irfan Khan, Vijayendra Ghatage & Deepa Sahi.