An interesting premise doesn’t necessarily translate into a good film. The tripping point here is the poor writing & direction. DoctorG is an average film lifted solely by Ayushman Khurana & Shefali Shah’s performances.

DoctorG starring Ayushman Khurana, Shefali Shah & Rakul Preet Singh is a Medical Campus Drama revolving around a male protagonist who is stuck in an all-female class during his PG in gynaecology. Gynaecology is stereotyped as a female only profession, at least in India given the conservative and backward outlook of the society. Ayushman has to navigate his way around bullying female seniors and winning the trust of women and society at large, who otherwise don’t prefer a male doctor.

The premise in itself is so interesting and can be played with in many ways. While the makers do that in a way by diving in the nuances of what happens at a government hospital, the outlook of people in a small town etc. However, rather than layering the central plot sufficiently, the makers loose focus and add a lot of needless sub-plots just for the heck of it. There is a love-angle of the Protagonist (Ayushman) with a Muslim girl (Rakul Preet Singh) which doesn’t reach any conclusion. There is a ‘shirtless’ friend to add the humour which actually doesn’t happen. There is a tragedy hit mother with aspirations, whose character is also not given any direction.

While there was so much already happening, there is another distinct sub-plot essential to the main plot which takes the story to its climax – the sub-plot of the minor girl who gets pregnant and is treated by Ayushman. This gives the film’s second half a different road altogether and makes it a more interesting watch than the 1st. Not only the characters, the script is also very poorly written. Scenes seem to be broken and happening without a flow. You don’t feel any connect with the characters, neither is the narration able to carry you. The dialogues are very poor, impactless with a very dry humour element.

On the performance front, Ayushman Khurana and Shefali Shah run the entire show. They add whatever they can in their capacity to a mediocrely written script and poor direction. There are some actors who are self-driven and these two are one of those. Especially, Shefali Shah. She manages to shine even with the very little room that she has. Rakul Preet Singh is best ignored given the character that she is playing is inconsequential and so is her performance. She has done a good job playing the desirable chic in a lot of films but this film isn’t that. Sheeba Chadha’s strengths and capacity are underutilized. She is one of the best character artists we have in Bollywood and she is so misdirected.

On the technical front, the setting works well. With the camerawork, they are able to bring Bhopal and the Bhopali vibes to the screen. The atmosphere is nicely created with Ayushman also pulling off the accent from time-to-time. On the whole, DoctorG is an average film that is forgettable instantly. The premise and the strong message it comprised of, could and should have been given a better treatment.