‘Babumoshai!’ boomed Rajesh Khanna’s voice as Anand slipped away in the last scene of the 1971 classic film, breaking millions of hearts.
Anand had ‘lymphosarcoma of the intestine’, a rare type of cancer made famous by the film. The name of the disease was as elusive and obscure as its implication. All we did know was that it was a grave, tragic disease and offered little or no chance of survival.w
It’s been 40 years since Anand and four decades of medical advancement in the country. But even in 2017, if a character in a Bollywood film has cancer, chances are they won’t make it till the end (of the movie). So on World Cancer Day, let’s ask – where are the stories about cancer ‘survivors’, Bollywood?
We get it – a tragic disease makes for a compelling story. And cancer is Bollywood’s favourite, most ‘glamorous’ disease. But after a point, these plot devices, especially if they cannot accommodate the story of a cancer patient’s survival, are simply exploitative.
More recently, in Munna Bhai, MBBS (2003) Jimmy Shergill’s character Zaheer dies of stomach cancer – a type of cancer that in its first stage, can be treated by surgery, and even in its last stage, can be kept under control, if not cured.
From the outset, Zaheer’s prognosis is not a hopeful one. He is alone, depressed, afraid, and Sanjay Dutt’s Munna bhai becomes his support system – only for Zaheer to die tragically in Munna’s arms later.
Why must the Zaheers of Bollywood always meet the same fate?
Technology Has Come Far – Why Haven't Our Movies?
We’re in 2017. Today, doctors can literally have a robotic arm make precise cuts around a cancerous tumour, without so much as touching the tissues next to it.
The Da'Vinci Robotic Surgery System, available in hospitals in Mumbai, Bangalore and other parts of the country, is a targeted treatment that reduces the risk of human errors.
“Hold on, be realistic, that is an expensive procedure!” some might say.
Yes, but so is flying to Paris on a private jet (*cough* Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) or organising an extravagant fake wedding just to hide from your boyfriend you’re dying of cancer (*cough* *cough* Katti Batti).
Technology has come far enough that in 2016, there was no need for Alizeh (Anushka Sharma in ADHM) to shed her locks. We get the dramatic appeal, but at least invest in better make up!
Specialists have poured themselves into developing immunotherapy – programming our immune systems to fight cancer cells – which is showing better results than chemo.
Doctors across 24 hospitals in the country have formed a Virtual Tumour Board (VTB), that connects them to discuss the best approach to treat complex cancers.
“So much has happened since Anand released,” says Dr Sapna Nangia, an oncologist at Apollo Hospitals.
New chemo drugs came in the ’80s, new radiation equipment is available. Organ sparing surgeries have come into the mainstream now. You can actually do voice preserving treatments to spare a patient’s larynx! It’s all very hi-tech, but you rarely get to see it in the movies.
If Nothing Else, at Least Don't Demoralise Patients
The general perception of cancer, thanks to lack of awareness and taboos, is of dread and a painful death. Unfortunately, Bollywood has done little to change that.
Ahtushi Deshpande, a breast cancer survivor The Quint spoke to, said fear and the general attitude of people around is more debilitating than the actual treatment.
When I got diagnosed with cancer, the look on people’s faces was – “She’s certain to be gone in a few months”. The concept doesn’t exist that you can survive. The fear has to go, because the treatment is not that debilitating. They give you steroids which take care of side-effects quite well. The only way this fear can go is if it’s talked about in the mainstream. Movies I think are the best to break the taboo. Everybody sees them and it leaves an impact.
The patronising, Kal Ho Na Ho-esque portrayal of cancer patients as bubbly and heroic in spite of their disease, is an even worse attempt to make their death all the more ‘tragic’.
This is not to say surviving cancer is easy. There may have been a paradigm shift in treatment, but there is still a long way to go.
But what about the millions of people who have made it, despite all odds? Their journeys have been hard, arduous and not always pleasant. Are these not equally compelling, emotional stories to tell as that of Alizeh, Zaheer, or even Anand?
The battle against cancer is being fought aggressively, and a depiction or two in Hindi movies won’t hurt. So this World Cancer Day, we implore you Bollywood to stop exploiting cancer to make tearjerkers and tell us stories of survivors too.
(With inputs from Huffington Post, Times of India, The New Indian Express)
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