Dr Arora - Gupto Rog Visheshagya Review: Kumud Mishra's Well-Intentioned SonyLIV Series Gets Mired in Substandard Storytelling

Dr Arora - Gupto Rog Visheshagya Review: Here's an unpopular opinion, perhaps. I really liked Khandani Safakhana starring Sonakshi Sinha released in 2019. It had the heart in the right place and even had some quirky scenes. It does get mired by a patchy storyline but the movie manages to throw light on the extreme stigma attached to 'gupt rog'. Dr Arora takes it to SonyLIV in the form of a web series. That gives it time to explore the story with broad stakes but uneven and unjust execution mires the experience. Dr Arora-Gupt Rog Visheshagya: Ahead of Release of Imtiaz Ali’s Sony LIV Show, Filmmaker Weighs on the Profession of Sexologist.

Set in the late 90s, Vishesh Arora aka Dr Arora (Kumud Mishra) is perhaps the only person in the form of a sexologist that Jhansi, Morena and Sewai Madhopur can go to. Being a taboo subject, a lot of his patients are reserved or pure threatening. So there are patients with issues like erectile dysfunction, nightfall, early ejaculation, and so on and so forth. His move to get into this profession stems from his own personal life which is the recurring theme. But not everyone is happy with his work like the arrogant editor of a newspaper Dinkar (Vivek Mushran).

Dr Arora addresses the topics with a lot of humility. Rather than making a hullaballoo of the condition, the character is written in a way where he is strict with some but also shows empathy when required. All other characters are also well defined and their conditions well explained. The back story of Arora gives an understanding of his mental state and where his thoughts or actions come from.

Created by Imtiaz Ali, the series muddles up its own purpose. The majority of the patients are males which makes it quite one-sided. We often hear statistics where women feel ashamed of talking about their problems and live through them all their life. Ignoring such an important aspect of curing such ailments in India doesn't make it a great watch. Also, Arora still pining for his ex-wife by stalking her is quite disturbing. The makers it seems are quite proud of the latter as they romanticised the stalking with a song.

The story tries to redeem Arora's character when the good-natured guy moves to the dark side to prove to his ex-wife, that he can perform on the bed now. And then they show him apologising for manipulating her. News flash: that doesn't absolve him of what he did. It has an open ending but I doubt I will come back to know what happens to the doctor now! Dr Arora – Gupt Rog Visheshagya Trailer Out! Kumud Mishra, Vidya Malvade, Raj Arjun’s Series by Imtiaz Ali To Release on SonyLIV on July 22! (Watch Video).

Watch the Dr Arora trailer here

For many, having Kumud Mishra play the lead character can come as a surprise and I feel it's a welcoming one. Given the stellar actor that he is, Mishra's transition from a sweet-smelling helping doctor to a manipulative scorned ex-husband makes it a great watch. Vivek Mushran as the annoying editor with false ego is just so apt and so are Arora's helpers. The rest of the cast did their jobs well.

Yay!

-Kumud Mishra

-addressing the conditions

Nay!

-one-sided approach

-disturbing plot points

-unnecessary songs

Final Thoughts:

Dr Arora - Gupt Rog Visheshagya doesn't add any new dimension to the Sonakshi Sinha starter, only elaborates them further. That could have made it worthy of viewing if the story was approached in a more sensible manner. Dr Arora - Gupt Rog Visheshagya streams on SonyLIV.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 22, 2022 04:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).