Delhi doctor returns to hospital as filmmaker

Delhi doctor returns to hospital as filmmaker
SREELATHA MENON

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 10: Parvez Imam was a psychiatrist at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences at Shahdara until five years ago, when he decided to quit practice for films. His colleagues were shocked. A doctor turning filmmaker? But last evening, as the doctor returned to his institute, with a film he had made with his wife, Rukmini Sen, the shock turned into admiration.

The film The Invisible Minority is a half-hour documentary which stands out by juxtaposing disabled persons from real life against a fictional skit enacted by actor Piyush Mishra and a handicapped person, Salil Chaturvedi.

Piyush Mishra, a man without disability, and wheelchair-bound Salil Chaturvedi are shown playing chess and talking. While their conversation goes on, the disabled make an appearance. There is Akhil Mehta who suffers from Down's syndrome. His mouth organ provides some of the film's music. Then there is Naresh Sharma, last year's Special Olympics world shooting champion. He asks why the country cannotgive him a job in the sport's quota even after the medal.

Later, A.C. Pradhan, a psychiatrist, invited Imam to present his slides on faith healers at a forthcoming seminar. In fact, it was faith healers who prompted Imam to quit practice and embrace cinema. ``When I was working here, I came across patients who would stop coming to me, and would later tell me that they had been visiting faith healers,'' says Imam. ``I was frustrated when I found that the same condition prevailed in other parts of the country as well. I decided then to make films to reach out to the masses'' particularly to create awareness about the mentally ill. ``But that is one thing I have not been able to do as no one is interested in funding a film on the subject,'' Imam says.

To that, Dr A. Singh says PGI, Chandigarh, has funds for media-related activities. Medical Superintendent R.K. Chadda also talks about creating slots for films in his institute. Psychiatrist Sengupta asks Imam if he has considered making films on streetchildren. To that Imam replies he wants to focus on issues which he could handle better as a doctor.

Imam, who has made 30 short films so far, and Rukmini Sen, who produced India Debates for Zee TV, have set no limits for themselves. ``If I have quit practice, it is to put in my knowledge of medicine to serve a greater good,'' says he.

And how close he is to the issues is revealed by the name he has given to his production company F20, which is the international code name for schizophrenia.

``For the lay man, it is an exotic disease, but for me and for patients, it is the total shattering of the self,'' he says in a voice that has helplessness mingled with a strange wild hope for the future.