In what would have been a surprise to fans, director Atlee included a sequence in Jawan that echoes the Gorakhpur hospital tragedy in Uttar Pradesh that claimed the lives of over 80 patients including 63 children in 2017 when the hospital ran out of liquid oxygen supply. Responding to the sequence, Dr Kafeel Khan has thanked Atlee and Shah Rukh Khan who stars in the film. Kafeel also pointed out the differences in the tragedy as shown on screen and in what transpired in real life.
At the time of the incident in 2017, Dr Kafeel Khan, then a junior lecturer at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital’s paediatrics department, went to great lengths to contain the tragedy, after the hospital ran out of liquid oxygen supply leading to the deaths. Though initially celebrated as a hero, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government later suspended him from his post, and the police booked him on charges of medical negligence, corruption and dereliction of duty. He was jailed for eight months before finally being exonerated.
Jawan seems to pay homage to Dr Kafeel Khan through a story in the film when Dr Irum (Sanya Malhotra) tries to contain a similar tragedy after 63 children die from lack of oxygen supply. In the film too, Irum is targeted by the government and arrested. However, unlike in real life, the actual perpetrators are ultimately brought to justice in Jawan.
Taking to social media, Kafeel responded to the homage by thanking Atlee and Shah Rukh Khan in a post. “I haven't seen Jawan but people have been messaging me saying it reminded them of me. There is a lot of difference between the world of films and real life. In Jawan, the culprits including the health minister and others get punished. But here, I and those 81 families are still waiting for justice. Thank you @iamsrk sir and @Atlee_dir sir for raising the social issue,” he wrote.
In a video he released alongside the post, Kafeel says, “I’ve been getting many messages and calls from people saying that Dr Irum in Jawan is Dr Kafeel Khan’s story. They have pointed out the similarities such as how the children died due to lack of oxygen supply and how the government jails her. I haven’t watched the movie, so I cannot comment on it. But I have written a book on it called The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy. It is also available in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi and other languages. I have not given the rights [to my story] to either Atlee or Shah Rukh Khan nor did I know about such a sequence.” He also reiterated the difference between “real and reel life”, saying how in the movie the culprit, the health minister, was brought to justice but he, Kafeel, was the one who continues to suffer.
In 2019, Kafeel was arrested again under the National Security Act (NSA) after he spoke out against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) amid widespread protests against it, out of fear that it would deny citizenship to lakhs of people, largely poor and/or Muslim.
Incidentally, Kafeel Khan’s book The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy: A Doctor’s Memory of a Deadly Medical Crisis, was launched in Tamil on September 3 in Chennai. The English language original was published in 2021 by Pan MacMillan. At the launch of the Tamil translation, Kafeel had recalled how several Indian publishing houses had refused to accept the book’s manuscript, possibly fearing backlash.
Read:Dr Kafeel Khan releases Tamil version of his book, says won't remain a mute spectator