CAST: Additi Gupta, Rohit Purohit, Sid Makker, Vidyut Xavier, Alma Hussain, Raghav Dheer, Ashwin Mushran, Kaushik Chakravarty,
DIRECTED BY : Arif Ali
Story and Concept:Nilanjana Purkayasstha
Screenplay: Shakti Sagar Chopra, Lakshmi Jayakumar
Production House : Invictus T Mediaworks
This limited series on Sony deserves all the accolades in bringing a realistic medical drama to life.
Excellent actors, great storyline , crisp and extremely well made, we are loving the way the story is unfolding in the life of Dr. Deepika Saxena, who is a surgeon in a very male environment at a hospital in Mumbai.
The story documents the challenges, the intersectionality of doctor-patient, doctor-doctor, doctor-management,,doctor-junior, doctor-nurses relationship dynamics and presents a very compelling story of the trials and tribulations of a woman working in a male oriented environment.
Over the last few months we have seen how Deepika, recovering from a professional scandal is helped by her mentor Dr PC to get a job at the FMS hospital whose CEO and patron Mr Shehryaar is a sexist, bigoted individual.
As she takes charge, she has issues in aligning and creating confidence with her juniors and peers. As she gains the confidence, her ex-boyfriend joins the hospital as her boss. Having broken her engagement with him over his sexist attitude towards her, she is aghast at the possibility of having to work with him for extended hours.
Over a period of time, in an extensively pressured environnment, she falls for him again, knowing well that he is married. He promises her that he has changed and will divorce his wife of 10 years for him.
As Deepika comes to terms with this, Vikrant’s wife Aditi arrives in Mumbai and joins the same hospital with the intention of not letting her husband go.
Deepika walks out of her relationship with Vikrant and asks him to go back to his wife. Vikrant becomes avengeful with Deepika , with an intent to sabotage her career and reputation for being jilted. Male Ego at its most
Deepika also realizes that whatever changes Vikrant had shown to her in his character, deep inside him is a man who thinks he is God and that part of him that believes in patriarchy has not changed. .Vikrant acts indifferent with Aditi blaming her for his break up with Deepka, to the effect that he insults her. On one such occassion after having fought with him, Aditi realises and tells Vikrant that she know understands why Deepika left him and walks out on him.
As she leaves Vikrant, Aditi has an accident and her comatose body is received by Deepika at the ER in FMS Hospital.
Deepika tries her best to revive Aditi but is not able to despite all efforts and Aditi passes away.
Burdened with guilt, Vikrant and his family blame Deepika for Aditi’s death.
Enters, Nikhil Sardesai – a visionary entrepreneur and a biomedical engineer who thinks he understands his health issues. Deepika impresses him with her diagnosis. And he trusts her with his surgery.
In the most recent episode, Nikhil hears the conversation between Vikrant and Deepika where Vikrant jostles Deepika’s confidence in her craft again. Deepika’s confidence is so shaken by doubt embedded by Vikrant into her psyche and she refuses to operate on Nikhil.
No one is born with self-doubt. Deepika’s natural confidence has been undermined by Vikrant’s accusations and his own burden of guilt.
Wherever it comes from, self-doubt is a defense mechanism. It’s our brains protecting us – from failure, from embarrassment, from heartbreak. But it’s also driven by fear, and it prevents us from achieving excellence.
Nikhil helps Deepika overcome her fear by helping her deduce her limiting beliefs. Our words and the words of others create our reality. Whereas Vikrant has always held Deepika as a sponge for his own emotions and needs, Nikhil breaks that mold and helps her fight back against her own self-doubt converting it into self-confidence.
When you find someone who lifts you up instead of pulling you down, surround yourself with them.
Minimize relationships that bring negativity into your life and surround yourself with positivity and support instead.
Sid Makker joins the team of #DhadkanZindaggiKii as Nikhil Sardesai.
An established actor with many movies, shows and a lot of theatre to his name, his suave presence and understated acting chops is bringing more finesse to this series that we already love so much.
UPDATE FEB 25
Dhadkan continues to touch upon really important topics of mental health, work life balance and wellness.
In the past few episodes, we see Deepika over reaching to help Vikrant through his trauma.
Nikhil points out to her that she has a savior complex and unless she recognizes and deals with it,she will effect her own health- both physical and mental.
Have you ever felt like you were responsible for the success and well-being of another grown adult? Like this other person really needed your help, and if it weren’t for you, they would be in a lot of trouble, unable to take care of themselves?
Have you felt like you had to save them? And if none of your efforts worked and the person continued down the path of self-destruction, have you felt in denial about it?
Weakness and vulnerability attract you.
You are not a person — you are a function. You serve the needs of others in your family, be it your spouse, your children, or your parents. In your life, the others are a source of meaning, because you exist to serve them, even though it makes you miserable. Your life is defined by the mantra: “For me to feel good, my loved one must feel good.”
Infact, you don’t even know what makes you feel good at all.
Nikhil points out to Deepika that her constant need to be the helper for Vikrant was causing him to be overreachingly dependent for his recovery on her. That was also the reason he was not taking any responsibility for his current state and blamed others for it. Nor was he doing anything to help himself and take charge of his own life. He feels no need to become autonomous, learn the lessons of his life or to gain wisdom from his own experiences.
This is different than supporting someone going through a tough time.
When you support someone, you validate their struggle but communicate your belief that they have enough internal resources to overcome it. You allow them the right to ask for help, but you recognize you are not obligated to provide it
On the other hand, being a savior invalidates another. As a savior, you communicate the message: “You can’t do this yourself, you’re helpless without me.” While on the surface, you may express (and sincerely believe in) the desire for the person to improve and grow, in actuality, you undermine them by taking away their opportunity to learn their life lessons.
