CHENNAI: The pandemic has been the toughest for the medical fraternity. Grappling with uncertainty, the heightened emotions prompted Dr Bhaskar MV, a consultant neonatologist, Dr Sandeep H S, a consultant pulmonologist and Dr Gourishankar Reddy Manne, a consultant intensivist, to express their emotions in a creative way. The result was ‘Doctor’s Karma’— a Kannada rap song that narrates the story of each and every doctor. Written by Bhaskar, the song also has vocals and rap by all the three doctors.
The music is composed by Raghu Dixit, Indian folk-rock musician. Since its premiere on July 11, the song has garnered more than two lakh views. “We made this song for two reasons -to boost the morale of the healthcare fraternity during this pandemic and secondly, to do awaywith the misconception that we doctors were not doing enough. There was a lack of communication between the public and us, so we wanted to build the trust to get the system to work well,” says Manne.
The song conveys various struggles a medical professional has to face, right from the pressures of studying to be qualified, to the various instances of violence doctors have had to endure in the pandemic. “We named it ‘Doctor’s Karma’ because it is all about the good and bad things in life that a doctor has to go through,” says Bhaskar, adding that though they decided it would be a rap song, neither of them had any idea of what it would entail. “It took us all five-six takes to record the song to perfection,” he says with a laugh. The doctors approached Dixit during the first wave of the pandemic, who then helped them with the composition. “What I liked the most about the lyrics was its honesty.
And that helped add so much more conviction to what they were trying to convey,” says Dixit, adding that by the time the video was shot, which took place in the premises of a city-based hospital, things had already started to look up in India. “There was an air of positivity all around and it didn’t make sense to drop the song that time. Unfortunately, the second wave hit and in the light of all the assault and violence doctors were facing, it made sense to release the song now,” said the composer-singer who made his acting debut with ‘Bang’.
Meanwhile, the song provided the medics the respite they needed. “We would go to Raghu Dixit’s studio to record the song around midnight, after a long day at the hospital. There was laughter and good cheer. We dedicated all our free time to this project and it proved to be a great stressbuster,” says Sandeep. The song is available on Raghu Dixit’s YouTube channel.