Vikram Bhatt all set to expose the fatal flaws in the medical profession

Getting out of his comfort zone of erotic-horror Vikram Bhatt is all set to rip open and expose the fatal flaws in the medical profession. His next film, tentatively titled The Ankur Arora Medical Case which goes on the floors post-monsoon would take up the very urgent and disturbing issue of death during surgery. Inspired by a real-life case of a well-to-do entrepreneur’s sudden demise while being operated on, the film will take story from the operation theatre to the courtroom as an eminent surgeon played by K K Menon will be put on the dock and tried for murder. Reluctant to reveal too many details about what he calls his most conscientious film till date Vikram Bhatt says, “I’m deeply disturbed by the spate of deaths due to medical negligence. We presume only the poor die due to medical negligence. Not so. The rich who can afford the best treatment also perish because someone in the Operation Theatre goofs up. And no one from the bereaved family knows the truth about how their loved one died. They are too busy grieving to be aggrieved.” In Bhatt’s film the arrogant surgeon, K K Menon, would try to cover up and move on. But his two assistants, played by the very talented Arjun Mathur (seen in Luck By Chance and My Friend Pinto) and Vishakha Singh (excellent as Deepika Padukone’s friend in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Khelenge Hum Jee Jaan Se) take the matter forward into the domain of legal justice. Says Vikram passionately, “It’s very important to not to let gross medical negligence go unpunished. I know so many people who let it go thinking it’s pointless to pursue a matter when the loss of life is irreversible. A dear friend recently lost his mother when due to careless dialysis she suffered a heart attack. The matter cannot be closed just because your loved one is gone.” In Bhatt’s film the character of the prosecuted surgeon played by K M Menon is based on a real-life doctor who was tried for a medical negligence case. Bhatt even plans to shoot the film in the same hospital in Delhi where the case happened. But the authorities won’t be told what he’s shooting. Sighs Bhatt, “It would be tough because I can only shoot in the hospital at certain hours and under a veil of secrecy. Anything can happen later when the hospital authorities discover that they were extending hospitality and co-operation to a film that was questioning one of their senior most doctor’s medical ethics. But I won’t shoot this film on a set. No way! I am not shooting a Robin Cook medical thriller. I am aiming at making a realistic drama on one of the middleclass Indian’s biggest fears, death in a hospital.” Nearly one year of research has gone into the film. Bhatt reveals that one of the commonest reasons for death in the OT is Aspiration Pneumonia. “Lots of deaths during surgery occur due to this condition that develops during surgery. We need to understand what it, so we can stop it from taking lives,” observes Bhatt. Interestingly Paoli Dam who stripped down to her bare essentials in Vikram Bhatt’s Hate Story would be fully covered in The Ankur Arora Medical Case. “She plays a lawyer. So no chance of skin show. Hasn’t she done enough of that?” reasons Bhatt. That very fine actor Harsh Chaya would play the owner of the hospital who tries his best to hush up his star-surgeon’s fatal error. Similarities to real life are in this case, not coincidental.