I must have been no more than 12 years old when I saw a signboard for ‘Gupt Rog Clinic’ for the first time and misunderstood it as ‘Best Clinic for Gupt Rog ’. Wondering why Deoria has so many doctors named ‘Gupta’, I presented this question to my mother. She laughed and clarified that this is no medical franchise, but a kind of doctor who treats secret diseases.
What these secret diseases were, I had
no idea. Nor would she tell me.
Several years later, I overheard a group
of men laughing boisterously in a cafe, with one of them reluctant to share how
his date went. His friends casually asked, “Gupt rog doctor ke paas le jayein
tujhe? (Should we take you to a sexologist?),” and broke into laughter. Later
that day, I asked a male friend what it meant who explained that those guys
were alluding to a sexologist.
OTT platforms have afforded filmmakers a
level of creative freedom that is unprecedented. A film with even one sex
sequence would be at the receiving end of the censor board's ire. With OTT
platforms, filmmakers can experiment with the format and content of stories
they want to tell.
Imtiaz Ali, who is mostly known for his
modern love stories, has dabbled in different genres on OTT. She, his OTT
debut, is a crime drama series that was recently for a second season on
Netflix. With Dr . Mishra- Gupt Rog Visheshagya, Imtiaz Ali tackles the social
stigma against men’s sexual health in a serious yet light-hearted manner.
The show’s trailer was released last week
and gave viewers a glimpse into how issues around men’s sexual health and the
fragility of masculinity, as it depends on a man’s sexual prowess. Imtiaz Ali
counters the sexist argument, “What is a man without his sexual prowess?” in a
calm and composed manner, much like the show’s titular character played by
Kumud Mishra.
His answer is simple. Sterility has
nothing to do with a man’s masculinity or virility.
Sexologists are the second most searched
medical practitioners, according to a report by Just Dial. Apparently, India
saw a 28% rise
in the demand for sexologists with most queries pouring in from cosmopolitan
cities like Deoria and Gorakhpur. For a lot of women, gynaecologists double up
as sexologists, but where do men go for advice pertaining to their sexual
health?
We may have stepped away from the puritan
approach our parents had towards sex by having more honest and open
conversations about it. However, when it comes to sexual health issues, we have
a long way
It’s heartening to see the Indian film
industry take great strides to normalise conversations around men’s sexual
health. The 2017
film, Shubh Mangal Savdhaan was probably the first mainstream film on the
subject with a male protagonist who has erectile dysfunction (ED). When the
female protagonist, Sugandha, finds out Mudit’s ED, she is quite understanding
and says, “We don’t need to have sex, Mudit. There are so many other things we
can do.”
Before this, the only reference Bollywood
made to male impotence or sterility was through indirect references via an
adoption or surrogacy storyline in films like Chori Chori Chupke Chupke and
Filhaal.
In the trailer for Dr . Mishra, a patient
points a gun at the doctor and threatens to shoot him if he reveals his
identity. Instead of displaying fear, Dr . Mishra calmly says, “You will be all
right. Do you understand?” He knows how fragile a man's ego can be when the
body part that's supposed to make him manly fails to perform. He understands
his patient’s anger stems from shame and fear.
This is the sad reality of a society where
the smallest of sexual health issues bring shame. As a result, most men don’t
consult medical professionals for fear of being outed and labelled as
impotent.
Though issues like erectile dysfunction
are a physical condition, they are closely related to men’s mental health too.
Sexual incompatibility, performance pressure, low confidence and self-esteem —
these mental health issues are intertwined with conditions pertaining to sexual
health.
Male protagonists in movies and TV shows
have always been portrayed as hypermasculine creatures with great sexual
prowess who dominate women sexually. But what happens when a man's ability to
fit into society's rules on sex and masculinity is impacted by physiological
conditions?
This is the question Imtiaz Ali aims to explore with Dr. Mishra.