Mumbai Diaries 26/11, set against the backdrop of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is set largely inside the emergency room of a government hospital, depicting the struggles of the medical staff overwhelmed by the injured and dying.
Created by Nikkhil Advani, the medical drama series is a fictional retelling of the horrors of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks from the perspective of the medical fraternity.
The onscreen medical team is led by Dr Kaushik, played by Mohit Raina. Satyajeet Dubey, Natasha Bharadwaj, and Mrunmayee Deshpande star as young interns caught in between the tragedy on the first day of their medical residency. Konkan Sensharma plays Chitra Das, a social services director of the government hospital, and Shreya Dhanwanthary is a rookie journalist reporting events from the frontline.
India's first-ever series set in an emergency room, Mumbai Diaries 26/11, has a certain intensity attached to it. In an interview with Firstpost, Sensharma says the show offers a fresh perspective to the medical drama genre, especially because it looks within a government hospital. "The show lets us know what goes on inside a government hospital, what challenges first responders face, so in that sense, I found the show take on a very interesting subject."
Sensharma, who plays a social service director, explained how important the position is despite the holders not donning white coats. "A social service director is somebody who organises and assists families who need assistance financially, among other things. It is true that doctors are sometimes glorified more than others but is not really fair on them. A hospital cannot function without well with proper infrastructure, and support staff behind it. So in that sense, everyone is important, and in this show, we are concentrating on the hospital staff, be it nurses, ward boys, and the administrative staff.
In times of crisis, everything gets so chaotic, and everyone goes outside their line of duty to help others in need. My character Chitra herself is quite vulnerable, she carries emotional baggage, and has been through certain issues which has made her firm. She's gained strength through that vulnerability, which has lent her certain compassion when she’s looking at other patients in the hospital."
At the other end of the frontline is Dhanwanthary's Mansi Hirani, a field reporter covering the 26/11 attacks. She worked on Scam 1992 and Mumbai Diaries 26/11 around the same time, before the pandemic set in. She was cast as business journalist Sucheta Dalal in the former. "I knew I had to make a conscious effort to portray both roles differently. However, the writing and the characterisation of both the roles are different. For instance, Sucheta Dalal is a living, breathing, wonderfully accomplished human being, moreover a Padma Shree-winning journalist. And here, Mansi Hirani is like a mishmash of so many different kinds of journalists we have seen and grown accustomed to."
During the 26/11 attacks, Dhanwanthary was in Delhi, and anxiously trying to reach her father who was in Taj Mahal Palace for a meeting. "We were frantic and worried because his phone wasn't reachable. Later, when we got a callback, he informed us that the meeting got pushed to Taj Bandra. But those few hours of uncertainty shook us to the core. We can’t imagine what people must have gone through who lost their loved ones."
Sensharma, too, was out of town during the attacks but remembers feeling a sense of heaviness after returning to Mumbai.
"It was a very frightening and confusing time. There was a heaviness in the air. Everyone was in shock and disbelief; all were in the same boat. I think all Mumbaikars were the same that day."
On undue appreciation for medical staff
Both Sensharma and Dhanwanthary believe the medical fraternity has not received the much-needed appreciation. "It is really sad that we need something like COVID-19 crisis or 26/11 to appreciate the frontline workers. Because theirs is a very tough job. They are also leaving their families at home, they may also have had lost a loved one, or have children who are unwell. Mumbai Diaries 26/11 is a reminder to show gratitude, and hence a tribute to them," says Sensharma.
Dhanwanthary adds, "There’s so much they do every day, regardless of the pandemic or a terrorist attack. I mean, they are literally saviours of life, the closest thing to magic we have. We have a lot to do to show our appreciation to the people who work day in and out for our well-being."
On balancing a strike between urgency and sensitivity
Mumbai Diaries 26/11 evokes an acute sense of being overwhelmed with thematic elements of the hospital being unprepared for an emergency, a young reporter trying to 'break the story of the night,' a doctor doing a righteous thing by treating a criminal morally reminding his staff that 'a doctor's job is to treat a patient, not judge their character.'
This initial optimism gives way to a rising sense of panic, sharply contrasted against the gravitas of the senior doctors and nurses struggling to make life-or-death choices.
When I ask Sensharma if the show glorifies the medical fraternity rather than showing the loopholes, she says artists should be allowed to make what they want to make.
"Every fraternity has its own strengths and disadvantages. I mean if everyone starts thinking they are the Supreme Court, then we have a problem. We have qualified people, who can take these calls with due diligence, on what is to be done, what is to be carried out. That is why we have law and order, courts in this country. Hopefully, people are not compromised. Doctors have taken an oath, their job is to look after human life, and not to figure out who is a good or bad person. With Mumbai Diaries, I trusted Nikkhil enough to know that he will deal with the show with sensitivity and respect. Yes, it is based on 26/11, but it is a fictionalised account concentrating on the frontline workers, looking at the events within a hospital.
However, having said that, we should be free to make what we want to make. Because if we are constantly showing everything on a perfect, rosy platter, we will be portraying a fake world where everything is all good, everyone is nice. I think that will be very boring, a sanitized view of the world where there are no problems."
Mumbai Diaries 26/11 will release on Amazon Prime Video India on 9 September.
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