It’s been ten almost ten years since I wrote my review of V. Shantaram’s classic 1946 film Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani. I have thought about it recently because it is a film about a doctor who goes to China to help cure a plague, and now I am sitting in the middle of a world being menaced by a plague that started in China. This plague that started in China originated in Wuhan, the same town where Dr. Kotnis, himself, first landed – by which I mean, the real Dr. Kotnis whom the hero is based on, Dawarkanath Kotnis. That’s a curious coincidence, but that’s not the real reason that I began to think about this film again. The real reason is that it’s comforting to think about a heroic doctor who succeeded in curing a plague.
The pandemic of the novel coronavirus that we are now facing in 2020 and the consequences that have resulted so far are like nothing I have seen in my lifetime. In fact, as I watch the events unfold in my place in New York City, U.S.A. – including the cancellation of all public gatherings, the closing of schools, libraries, and cinemas, the closing of all bars and banning of all dining in restaurants (takeout only now), as well as the extreme measures of more personal “social distancing” being advised everywhere – it feels as though I am in the middle of a nightmare. I don’t think it’s possible to find a film that would be adequate in helping us to reflect upon and deal with the horror that we are all currently facing. But Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani is a nice film to watch if you have doctors and plagues on the mind and also would like to escape into a heartwarming tale that is based on some real hardships that many people struggled with in a certain place decades ago. And wherever you may be – India, the U.S., China, Italy, etc. – you can also dream about the arrival of a heroic doctor who’s going to cure this plague even if it means sacrificing his own life to do so.
Additionally, since I don’t have the energy or much spirit to write a brand new review (or compile a new list) anyway, why not return to an old one that I would like people to see again? It’s hard to believe that I wrote this old review all the way back in June of 2010, but it seems to have held up pretty well. Actually, it wasn’t holding up that well in a sense, because all the clips had disappeared. It is a good thing that I decided to look back at that old review recently, because I did not know that all the videos had been dropped, but once I found that out, I was able to replace them quickly.
So please click the title below and take a look at my old review, if you like. Maybe you have read it before, but it has been quite a while, right? Or maybe you have not seen it yet and might find it interesting (I hope):
Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (1946)
Oh, and by the way, you can also find a couple of copies of this film on YouTube, but I’m not going to recommend a particular one, because neither of the copies that I found are in very good condition, so they are a little difficult to watch. And unfortunately, they do not have English subtitles, either. (I watched an old English-subtitled copy a decade ago, but who knows where it is now? I have seen this film in the New York Public library more recently and if anybody in New York is reading this, I would recommend looking for it there, but unfortunately, the library is going to be closed at least until the end of the month and probably for longer than that.)
Dances on the Footpath 
This, and your original review, made for interesting reading, Richard. I haven’t seen this film since the time I reviewed it, so I’ve forgotten a good deal of it. But yes, this is probably an appropriate time for a rewatch… I wonder if there are any other old films, Hindi or Hollywood or even other languages, about epidemics or pandemics? Lots of newer films, but I can’t, offhand, think of anything from the 40s and 50s.
I hope things are otherwise all right with you. For me, since I work from home anyway, it’s not much of a problem, but my husband’s now working from home too, and our daughter’s school has shut, so she’s home as well. In some of the more badly affected cities in India, malls and cinemas have also been shut down. With India’s population being what it is, if the virus really gets going here, I shudder to think what havoc it will wreak.
Madhu, I appreciate not only that you always send me nice comments, but that sometimes, you post them so soon after I’ve finished my post! :)
As soon as I saw your mention of it above, I found your review of Dr. Kotnis…
https://madhulikaliddle.com/2009/06/12/dr-kotnis-ki-amar-kahani-1946/
I think I have seen this review before, but my memory is fuzzy… You wrote it a long time ago, even a year before I wrote mine! I liked reading this (or reading it again, as the case may be). Some of your comments about the film’s shortcomings are very funny! I thought that you were a little less forgiving of those flaws than I was, but then I saw that you appreciated the film in some ways, too.
Now, I can’t remember any films about a plague made in the ’40s or ’50s, either…. Camus wrote The Plague in 1947, and I see a lot of people mentioning that book on Facebook. :) I might have read it a long time ago (but don’t quite remember). I wondered if there might have been a film made from this novel, but I could not find one in a quick search.
I am glad to see that you are doing OK and are not going to have to be concerned about changing your work habits, though your house is going to be a bit crowded now. :) I can see that if the virus breaks out in India, it could wreak a lot of havoc, given the population there. There is only one country that is more populated – that place where the virus started!
I appreciate your good wishes too… Unfortunately, the work situation is a bit troubling for me. I was generally going to offices for my wage work (proofreading, which I have still been doing on an on-call basis via agencies), and it actually was picking up during the past couple of months. I imagined I would be able to solve a few financial challenges soon…and then this happened. It is a somewhat scary position to be in now.
There is a slight chance I’ll be asked if I can do some things from home and certain places will actually follow through with a transition to telecommuting that they have been contemplating for a while. (Certainly, this is work that I can do from home and might have been doing from home already if I’d gone down a slightly different path.) Maybe this very unusual crisis will give them more incentive to do that, but I am not sure if I would immediately benefit anyway, and as the saying goes, I am not holding my breath. (Though sometimes I hold my breath in general now, just to make sure that I can do it – as long as that is still the case, less reason to be worried, right?)
I don’t have a big problem with doing a little “social distancing”… I wish I didn’t have these noise problems in my apartment (which I have mentioned before), but otherwise, I’m pretty good at staying at home and becoming absorbed in reading, writing and going to Facebook and the blogs :) … I do go out sometimes, taking long walks. I walk along the parks near me, some of which are very nice, and I avoid crowded streets. :)
But, yes, these are frightening times, especially in a place like New York, which has to go through very big changes. And who knows how long this will last?
But I’ll stop there for now (especially since my answer to you has already exceeded the length of my post). I’ll be writing plenty more about all of this here and there as the time goes on, and I am sure you will see some of that, too!
I’m sorry to hear that the work situation for you might be suffering because of the lockdown… I hope it picks up and you’re able to work from home. I too hope that organizations learn to allow more people to work from home on a regular basis – that seems to have done wonders for pollution, from what I can see. Plus, of course, allowing a more equitable work-life balance, I guess.
I don’t mind the social distancing much, either – since I actually like being all alone and home and spending most of my day alone, I am happy not having to go out. We go to parks as well – we have a very pleasant one, though small, just outside our home, so we can hop out for a dose of fresh air any time.
Talking of noisy neighbourhoods, I have a friend in Mumbai (ironically enough, she’s a composer/musician/singer) who lives next door to a karaoke bar. It drives her insane. She’s very relieved these days because – thanks to the coronavirus scare – the place has shut down. :-D
I found a couple of 60s films about virus outbreaks. Maybe I’ll try and see if I can find one online to watch and review.
Sympathy also appreciated, Madhu. :) Yes, it would be good if this crisis inspired a lot of employers to finally pursue putting permanent work-at-home arrangements into place. More generally, some industries and governments might end up doing things now that could help people out – things that might have seemed unthinkable just a month ago. (Here in the U.S., certain right-wing Republican politicians are pushing to get some money directly into the pockets of the people – they’re suddenly turning into socialists. :) ) Unfortunately, if positive changes come out of this (“silver lining”?), it will have been at an enormous price – and, of course, I don’t just mean the literal price.
Meanwhile, it doesn’t hurt for us to enjoy a few small changes that we might welcome in the middle of this nightmare – such as your friend appreciating that the karaoke bar closed. That’s funny! There are fewer people around when I go for my walks through the park(s), and I have to admit, sometimes, I kind of like that, too.
Anyway, it’s interesting that you found a couple of films about viruses, from the 1960s. I hope you can watch and review them, too – I’m curious now…