Oncologist Siddharth Mukherjee spent hours with cancer patients before realising that there is always hope for them to survive. The Pulitzer awardee was in the Capital for the screening of a documentary on his book
Cancer, the Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancerby Indian born, American physician Sidhartha Mukherjee brings together his research work as a hematology and oncology fellow at Massachusetts general hospital. Through the book, he has tried to bring forth the history of cancer which is as old as 4,600 years ago.
Mukerjee has tried to depict all the instances from history where physicians had no idea what was the reason for a person’s death in such a way. The book informs that cancer existed in history until 440 BC, where the historian Herodotus recorded the story of the queen of Persia, who noticed a lump in her breast. The book explains that though they were able to treat her temporarily, they are unable to know the reason and the required treatment of the concerned disease.
The book presents the early stages of treating cancer. At the onset, physicians had no idea of what the disease was and the only repercussion they knew was that it leads to the death of a person.
Back in history, the only available treatment that was known was to cut out the body part infected. But, physicians found out that even after cutting down the part, the lump would re-appear in some other body part.
The book brings back the history of cancer and the treatment which would cure the patient only for a certain time. Cancer, as a disease, has always gripped our society but the only difference is that, in primitive times, people had little or no awareness about it and now they know the disease, treatment and therapies required.
Now, the book is the basis of Emmy nominated Ken Burns who has tried to weave together all the incidents from the book in such a way which act as providing the real side of the disease as well as life of a cancer patient.
The screening of the documentary, by Burns was screened at American center with Mukherjee present at the screening. Before the screening, he informed everyone present in the auditorium that the film is not sugar coated. “It is as how is looks,” stressed the author.
“Through his writing and research, he has given us his insight and spread awareness on a subject like cancer. The book is the basis of an Emmy nominated documentary by Ken Burns. We will watch some portion of the film today and learn from mukerjee about his research work,” said Emily, representative at American center. Mukerjee-informed the audience that the film project began in 2012, and it all started with a phone call made by Burns. He wanted to make a film on his book, which had an extremely extremely personal connection with him.
Not many would know that Ken’s mother died of breast cancer when he was a young boy. “Right from the onset, I was very moved by his approach towards the film,” added Mukehrjee. He also informed the audience that the level of his dedication for a work is such that while shooting a two minute clip in Vietnam, Burns researched on the topic for six hours.
The movie, we came to know, was filmed only after through research. A lot of hard work went into it, too. The work actually brought immense appreciation and views from the people around the globe. The research work for the movie was done in three parts. Mukherjee said, “I was part of the scripting with which was followed up by an archival research.” He added that he was humbled by the height of research that Ken undertook for this project.
The third team was responsible for filming real patients which he thought was “unusual, as filmmakers insist on doing it actors rather than real patients.”
Though he thinks it was not easy. “In a country, where consent and privacy hold such an importance, filming the real patients was really a task,” said Mukherjee, who does not miss a moment to thank all those patients who agreed to feature on the film and share their real stories.
The documentary runs for six hours and only a portion of the film was screened. Before the curtain raiser, Mukherjee informed, “I want to tell you that it is an emotional film, no sugar coating has been done to enhance people’s emotions. This is what it is and how it looks.”
As he ended his speech, he laid stress on the point, “At the end of the film, we need to exit the lives of these people. We cannot hold onto them forever and neither can we lose hope.”