Doctor

The Feisty Indian Aunty Watches… Doctor

Dept. of Aunty Analysis

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Hello everyone. It is I, your Feisty Indian Aunty who took a chance on yet another Tamil movie on Netflix. This one was simply called Doctor, but unlike what the title might suggest, it isn’t in any way a medical drama. The movie popped up on my Netflix feed – probably because their data shows them that I’ve been watching a lot Tamil and Hindi movies of late – and it got me curious, a little because my husband is a physician, but also because it didn’t sound like your average Tamil movie.

It wasn’t. Doctor left me surprised, enthralled, and thrilled. I was afraid. I was laughing. And the pace of this exhilarating movie left me breathless. It didn’t disappoint me one bit.

In this movie, we are introduced to the army doctor Varun (Sivakarthikeyan), a silent, dispassionate, and extremely practical human being – a man who always finds solutions for problems without engaging in the messy emotions that can come up in any given situation. When the movie opens, we find him, in battle, treating an injured terrorist. When his superior questions why he chose to save the terrorist over an Indian soldier, Varun coolly retorts that the soldier’s injury was fatal, and that the terrorist, if kept alive, would help in intelligence gathering.

Varun’s fiancée Padmini (Priyanka Arul Mohan in her Tamil movie debut) can’t handle this lack of emotion and calls off their engagement. She yearns for someone with more heart. For someone passionate. Both their families are obviously distressed, but as Varun leaves, he discovers that Padmini’s niece has been kidnapped, and that the authorities aren’t doing anything about it.

Realizing that the police aren’t interested in finding the missing child of a family who has no money, clout, or political influence, Varun takes charge and promises them that he will save the missing girl.

Doctor

And that’s all I will say. I don’t want to spoil anything because I really want you to see this movie.

It has many layers to it, all of which still happens in India on a regular basis. Young girls being kidnapped for the slave trade, for prostitution, and sold to the highest bidder in other counties where there is a constant demand. Doctor shows us how there is a total lack of interest by the powers that be in solving any of these issues – kidnapping, child abuse, domestic violence, “eve teasing” (a very Indian term used for sexual harassment), especially if you aren’t someone of some standing in society.

Doctor stands out because it takes all of these very heavy issues and manages to derive from it some moments of daring comedy. The movie is aware of how dark the scenario is and cleverly uses humour to push its message in a real and powerful way.

The casting is great. Sivakarthikeyan plays this witty, determined, and calculative hero with great panache. Kingsley is perfectly deadpan. And Vinay oozes cool as the ruthless villain.

We know that movies are ephemeral relief for the masses. Sad endings, where the hero dies and the bad guy gets the girl will never be box office hits. Which is why Doctor maintains many of the fundamental checkpoints of Tamil cinema. There are some great toe tappers here (namely “Chellamma” and “So Baby”). There is still a love story. There is the mandatory fight sequence. It’s all there. But Doctor is also not your everyday Tamil movie. It isn’t about forbidden love or familial chaos. It isn’t about getting married and finding some happily ever after. It is, instead, a smartly made black comedy with a real message that’s well conveyed.

Watch it. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Doctor is now streaming on Netflix.

You can read all The Feisty Indian Aunty’s previous columns here.

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