Mahanagar@Kolkata comes under scanner

It���������s been a week since Mahanagar@Kolkata released. Ever since its release, there have been talks about the film���������s representation of reality.
Scenes from the film, where a goon seeks asylum in a state hospital and also asks his associate to arrange for a sex-worker, have come under the scanner. Even officials at the Censor Board of Film Certification that has given an A-rating to the movie have been fielding a lot of calls about this issue.
Says Subrata Mukherjee, regional officer, Central Board of Film Certification, ���������We���������ve been flooded with calls on this issue.I agree that this is a very strong criticism of the health services in the state. It���������s not that CBFC has overlooked this scene. While watching the film, we had had a huge debate over this scene. A lot of stray incidents happen in this city and a director is allowed certain cinematic liberties while making a film. Had this been a documentary, we would not have cleared this scene. But since this is a feature film, we didn���������t suggest a cut. Sex trade certainly doesn���������t happen this way in a state hospital in Kolkata and CBFC is, in no way, endorsing the view of the director from the government of India���������s side.���������
Dr Satyajit Chakraborty, secretary, association of health service doctors, is surprised with this kind of a depiction on-screen. ���������We���������ve heard of shocking incidents in jails but do you think state hospitals have that kind of a privacy to allow flesh trade? We will certainly watch the film and, if necessary, take action to not let this scar the image of state hospitals,��������� says Chakraborty.Says Dr Aniruddha Kar, director and ex-officio secretary, health services, ���������I���������ve watched director Suman Mukhopadhyay���������s plays but not his movies. While I rate his plays very highly, I don���������t think he had the right motive in mind while depicting such a scene in his film. Of course, we live in a democratic country and if people feel this isn���������t a correct depiction, they will surely protest. I don���������t think people will believe this as a slice of reality of state of health services in Kolkata.���������
Even celebrities from Tollywood have raised doubts over this depiction. ���������I���������ve heard tales of murder on hospital premises. But how can one show a person indulging in sex right next to another patient who is on oxygen support?��������� wonders a Tollywood director, on conditions of anonymity. Director Suman Mukhopadhyay, however, remains unfazed by such criticism. ���������There can be two ways of depicting reality. One, to show things as is. The other is to show what reality can become. I���������m working with perceived reality. I might not be able to pinpoint a particular incident of flesh trade in an emergency ward. But drug racket and mafia wars do exist. Haven���������t we seen dogs and cats lying just next to critical patients? Had I shown animals, people wouldn���������t have reacted this way. I feel, letting a patient lie on the floor to die is a much greater offence than showing a sex worker soliciting a patient. The latter might be morally/ethically wrong. But it will not adversely affect a patient. This scene is a statement showing moderate degradation in state hospitals,��������� Mukhopadhyay says, adding, ���������The Bengali middle-class is touchy about certain moral values. Nurses had protested when one of them was shown as a prostitute in Ray���������s Pratidwandi. Ray had had to later blur the controversial scenes.���������
Ask actor Chandan Roy Sanyal, who played the critically-ill patient in M@K, about his film���������s controversial scene and he says, ���������We wanted to show the state of negligence in state hospitals. Showing flesh trade was metaphorical. I don���������t think this will harm the image of the state���������s health services. Not too many talk highly about it in any case.���������
Are the medicos listening?
Follow us on Twitter for more stories