Doctors are like God on earth. This is what I have been told since childhood. of course they are. They both give life and save life. But the new Hindi web series, simply and aptly titled Doctors, tells us that they too are just as human as you and me—flawed and distorted. They experience fatigue during work; They get tired. Death is as painful for them as it is for us, and they too become overwhelmed. The only difference is that they cannot retreat in times of crisis.

The 10-episode series, streaming on JioCinema, highlights the lives of newly appointed resident doctors, surgeons, nurses and terminally ill patients at Mumbai’s Elizabeth Blackwell Medical Centre. At its center are two main characters – resident doctor Nitya Sahu (Harleen Sethi), who has joined with the intent of revenge defined in the initial episodes, and neurosurgeon Dr Ishaan Ahuja (Sharad Kelkar), whom Nitya holds responsible. Her brother Dhawal’s (Aamir Ali) botched surgery leaves him with permanent damage.

The supporting cast includes Nitya’s best friend Ro (Vivaan Shah), the robotic Dr. Keuri Patel (Lyra Dutt), the sensitive and sweet Dr. Nahida Jaffrey (Sara Hashmi), the unfiltered Dr. Riddhun Sethi, and the hyper-vigilant Dr. Neel Shastri. Are included. They are a fascinating group.

doctors trailer

They fight, they compete to make sure they get to assist the surgeons in unique surgeries, and they even make sarcastic comments at each other like most coworkers. But they also stand up for each other when things go wrong.

Medical field is not very popular in our country. When I think deeply, only two names come to mind, the 2002 hit TV show Sanjeevani and Sanjay Dutt’s comedy-drama Munna Bhai MBBS. But none of them are as close to reality as the doctors.

Writers Shibani Keshamat, Radhika Anand, Bharat Mishra and Sidharth P Malhotra have done justice in weaving together the personal and professional lives of the doctors. He has handled the medical side of the stories well, deftly balancing rare cases with the common, most commonly heard of incurable diseases. There are scenes where you can feel the frustration, the anger of a doctor who is unable to save someone’s life despite his best efforts. The crying attendants make you emotional but also make you aware of the bitter truth of life, which is death.

While the operating room action keeps you engaged, that’s not the only aspect to watch out for in Doctors, directed by Sahir Raza. The constantly changing personal equation between these doctors and how they treat them like adults also makes the story interesting.

The makers do not shy away from touching on relevant issues (a patient jumping the organ donor queue and getting priority over a general ward patient) or addressing the ethical and moral dilemmas faced by doctors, such as an 18-year-old Asking the parents of a brain-dead old boy for organ donation.

It all unfolds at a reasonable pace throughout the 35-minute long episode. One of the remarkable aspects of the show is how it opens the door to a world you couldn’t enter otherwise.

However, the show has some shortcomings that need to be addressed. A scene involving a psychiatric ward required more research, as the writers ‘went to Bollywood’ to depict how mentally ill patients behave – especially at a time when conversations about mental health are important. It is becoming so.

Additionally, some key characters, like Viraf Patel’s Abhijat and Aamir Ali’s Dhawal, needed more depth. Abhishek, a senior surgeon who has probably seen many deaths, still cries when his patients die and gets stressed about informing the families about their loved ones’ demise. Why does he behave this way despite his experience? The show doesn’t explain. Similarly, it is also not clear why ‘star surgeon’ Dhawal decided to retire into seclusion after a tragic surgery.

Hopefully, the second season will introduce a more refined version of the Doctors. Until then, there’s no harm in watching Doctors, as the show is well-written, well-acted, and well-directed.