In 1987, Lifeline set a benchmark on Indian television as far as hospital dramas go. Directed by Vijaya Mehta, the serial was so good that nobody ventured to make another medico-based serial for more than a decade. The one that followed was its sequel, which, save for its title, sunk without a trace.

And now in 2002, the small screen has come up with two serials Sanjivani - A Medical Boon and Dhadkan with a hospital backdrop. Screen did the rounds of the two sets to find out what keeps the two serials ticking...

Other Stories

Meet the new stars of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi

It’s been a decade and more since Lifeline, Indian television’s first hospital-based serial was made, but even today one remembers it fondly. Directed by stalwart Vijaya Mehta, it was an eye-opener on the goings-on in a hospital. The serial stood out because, despite revolving around the medical fraternity, there was no overt medical jingoism nor was there high melodrama. Simple and sensitive, it touched the hearts of many. This was followed by Lifeline II directed by Pratima Kulkarni, who had assisted Mehta earlier. The sequel, however, failed to recreate the former’s magic. Obviously, it wasn’t easy to match the standards set by the formidable Mehta. Renuka Shahane, who was a part of the first Lifeline, attributes its failure to the time gap between the two. “If it had followed the first Lifeline immediately it would have probably been a hit,” she offers.

The reason why one is digging into the past is the sudden emergence of two medical-based serials, Sanjivani on STAR Plus, and Dhadkan on Sony. While Sanjivani has a weekly one-hour slot, Dhadkan is a tri-weekly, telecast from Monday to Wednesday. Interestingly, both have come on air simultaneously, provoking the question: why the long gap between the first medical serial and subsequent ones, and why both at the same time?

Umesh Padalkar, who is directing Dhadkan, feels that the gap between the first hospital-based series and the subsequent ones could be simply because it is not an easy subject to tackle. “One cannot make it like a regular soap. You have to talk to the right people and make it look authentic,” he states. Prem Krishen who is making Sanjivani is at a loss to explain why there were no hospital-based serials for so long, but says that Sanjivani is setting a trend. “We have always been trendsetters, be it Gul Gulshan Gulfam based in Kashmir, or Junoon,” he says with pride. But papa Prem is more happy about the fact that Sanjivani is son Siddharth Malhotra’s baby. “I wanted to take up something which would be different from the saas-bahu sagas, and Lifeline was my favourite as a kid,” informs Siddharth. Once he got the nod from dad, Siddharth took the concept to Tarun Katiyal of STAR Plus, who approved it immediately. “The rest of the STAR Plus team was also very encouraging and Sanjivani was born,” he says happily. Incidentally, Sanjivani came on air before Dhadkan.

But Jeetu Chawla, the producer of Dhadkan informs us that he was the first to think of a medical-based serial. “I started the groundwork on it in 1999,” he maintains. Though Prem Krishen claims to have thought of it much earlier, he doesn’t remember the exact year. “That doesn’t matter because we didn’t know about Dhadkan,” he quips. But one thing, both the makers agree upon is that a hospital is the most dramatic premise for a serial. “One can explore all aspects of life and human emotions,” states Prem Krishen. Agrees Chawla, “One can explore life in the best possible way.” While Prem Krishen is happy with the one-hour slot, Chawla says that he conceived it as a four-day-week series, “but the channel wanted it to be a tri-weekly.”

Both the serials have a mix of young interns and senior doctors played by newcomers and established actors. Sanjivani has Mohnish Behl making his TV debut, alongwith Ketaki Dave, Irawati Harshe and newcomers Gaurav Chanana, Gurdeep Kohli, Shilpa Kadam and Sanjeet Bedi. Suresh Oberoi was supposed to be the major draw of Dhadkan but is no longer acting in it “due to date problems”. The others in the cast include Achint Kaur, Vineet Kumar, Reema, Ram Kapoor and upcoming actors Sushant Singh, Kabir, Kishwar and Barkha Madan. Both the serials are shot at expansive sets. Dhadkan has constructed a hospital set with beds and medical equipments costing Rs. 75 lakh. The beauty of this set is that the wards and the offices can be changed in a jiffy as per the needs. Chawla has taken care to adhere to all the hospital’s specifications, like the size of a hospital bed, the distance between the two beds and equipment etc. to make it look authentic, which it does.

For Sanjivani, Cinevista has taken over an industrial estate and converted a part of it into a hi-tech hospital. The operation theatre, ICU and other wards are ever ready for the shoot. Then there’s a stylish cafeteria, reception and a cosy room for doctors to relax. The swanky corridor, the designer tables and chairs are lit at the switch of a button saving time on lighting whenever they want to shoot a sequence there. The emphasis, clearly, is on the ‘look’.

Sanjivani is glossy, while Dhadkan comes across as stark. Dhadkan spreads one case over three days, sometimes running into two weeks, and simultaneouly starts building another patient. Personal relations between the doctors, their stories et al, are dealt with in between. In short, too many things are happening in this 30-minute episode. Like a heartbeat, it is fast. In contrast, Sanjivani has one-hour enough time to mull over a case, and more to pursue the doctors’tracks. Like Siddharth offers, “Sanjivani is full of hard-core emotions while Dhadkan is hardcore ER. They concentrate on the medical facets, going into the details of the genre of a disease, while we go into the emotions and anxieties of the patients and their relatives. Our perspectives are different.”

Sanjivani is directed by Kaushik Ghatak who has to his credit the most popular daily on TV today Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (KSBKBT). As everyone knows, no serial can beat KSBKBH when it comes to melodrama. And one finds ample doses of it in Sanjivani too. Take for instance an episode where a newly-wed bride surrenders her mangalsutra to the doctor with a promise that he will return it only after saving her husband from certain death, or the episode which had lot of drama surrounding a marriage organised in the hospital cafeteria so that a dying father could witness his daughter’s wedding! By any stretch of imagination this is far-fetched. Tell this to Kaushik, and he justifies, “Sanjivani is not a medical journal. The primary aim of television is to entertain, educate and inform. But if they don’t enjoy, they won’t watch. And one can take a little cinematic liberty.” Prem Krishen comes out strongly, “We are not catering only to the metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta. You will be shocked to know that there are areas where people are emotionally charged. You have to understand that ours is a sentimental country.” There’s more emotional hoopla in the serial with the romance between the young interns. Even Dhadkan has romance happening in the premises. In fact, Ram Kapoor, who plays a psychiatrist in the serial, was lamenting that he had no love angle in the serial!

But as far as the viewers are concerned, they seem to be hooked onto both the hospital dramas. Sanjivani is notching up a TRP of 6, while Umesh Padalkar, who claims to have got a positive response from his peers, is frank enough to admit that it is not high on TRPs. Dhadkan’s rating averages at 0.6. But its artistes seem to be completely in synch with the characters they are playing ’cause they have witnessed live operations, learnt the medical jargon and watched real doctors from close quarters. It has on its panel eminent doctors like Nitu Mandke and A Bhalerao guiding them.

Vineet Kumar, who plays a cardiologist, has watched a by-pass surgery which he says, “helps in learning how doctors behave while performing an operation and their usage of medical terminology.” Mona Ambegaonkar, who plays a paediatrist, has got a chance to interact with real child-specialists and says, “Now I know quite a bit about various child-related ailments and their solutions.” So, will she start practising? “I won’t dare to,” she says with a laugh. Achint Kaur plays a CEO, whose main job is to run the hospital smoothly and profitably. “It’s a grey character and I am enjoying it thoroughly,” she beams.

Mohnish Behl, who is becoming popular as Dr Shashank Gupta of Sanjivani couldn’t have dreamt of a better debut. Enthused about the positive feedback, he drawls, “This role has earned me a lot of warmth from the audience.” Crediting his writer and director for the positive response, Mohnish says that he heavily underplays his role. “TV is a close-up medium which needs a subtle performance, whereas in films one has to be larger than life,” he elaborates. Not drawing inspiration by any one doctor, Mohnish confesses that the doctors he’s interacted with over the period have been the take-off point. “I have observed the tone in which they talk to the patients and their compassion or lack of it to portray my role,” he says.

For Ketaki, Sanjivani is turning out to be a boon as she’s got the opportunity to break the image of Dakshaben played in KSBKBT. “I am playing a paediatrician who bonds with every patient she treats,” she informs adding that her personal track will start sometime later.

When asked which doctors are on the panel of Sanjivani, Siddharth dismisses it saying, “What’s the point in making it public. Let the work speak for itself.” He, however mentioned that the serial is written by Subrat Sinha in consultation with Dr Junaid Alam.

One thing that emerges clearly is that both the hospital dramas have different agendas. While Sanjivani is using the hospital backdrop to weave emotions and drama around it, Dhadkan is out to project the medical profession in all its grime and glory. If at all, one needs to compare the two serials with their western counterparts, Sanjeevani comes close to Chicago Hope which ends all its episodes on a positive note, while Dhadkan’s roots can be traced to General Hospital. One only wishes that the two serials blend the medical and emotional drama as splendidly as our very own Lifeline did. As Padalkar remarks, “Vijayabai is a towering filmmaker. I would feel satisfied even if we reach the half-way mark to her.”

—Chaya Unnikrishnan