IMA to serve legal notice to makers of 'Gabbar is Back'

Mumbai: The Indian Medical Association (IMA), an umbrella body of doctors practising modern medicine, has decided to serve a legal notice to "Gabbar is Back" actor Akshay Kumar and producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali for portraying the medical profession in poor light.

"The way the producer and the actor have shown the medical profession is a wrong way. People may lose faith in this noble profession. That is why we have decided to serve them legal notice tomorrow," IMA's honorary secretary general Dr K K Aggarwal told PTI.

"Medical profession is like a temple and very different from political, police or other fields. Hence, you should be responsible and careful while portraying this profession," Aggarwal added.

Aggarwal also parried a question on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's tweet in which he described "Gabbar is Back" as  "an amazing movie". The IMA, which has more than 2.5 lakh members across India, had yesterday sent a letter to the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley complaining that the recently released film projected the medical profession in a bad light.

In its letter, the IMA demanded that the objectionable scenes be immediately removed from the film. It also demanded that the film's screening be suspended till those scenes are not removed. "IMA is anguished over the way medical profession is projected in the movie 'Gabbar is Back'. We have marked copies (of the letter sent to I&B minister) to the Censor Board and the Union Health Minister, hoping that some action will be taken on the same," Dr Jayesh Lele, president-elect, IMA-Maharashtra, said in a statement.

Written by A R Murugadoss, "Gabbar is Back" is produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. It released on May 1. "There may be few black sheep in our profession, but showing the medical profession in such a bad taste is nothing less than incriminating," said Dr Ashish Tiwari, a medico-legal expert from Mumbai.