The Doctor by Farokh Udwadia

Staged Reading in English

An NCPA Production

When a seventeen-year-old rape survivor is rushed to hospital with catastrophic injuries, Professor Rustom Irani, one of the country’s most respected doctors, makes a split-second decision that will change his life forever. The girl refuses life-saving surgery—but Irani performs it anyway, believing it is her only chance to survive.

When she dies days later, his actions ignite a national scandal. Accused of violating patient autonomy, denying a family their religious rites, and overstepping the limits of medical authority, Irani finds himself at the centre of a fierce public debate. As colleagues turn against him and a tribunal examines his choices, the question grows sharper: where does a doctor’s duty truly lie—with the patient’s wishes, the family’s faith, or the instinct to save a life at any cost?

Written by renowned physician Dr Farokh Udwadia, The Doctor is a powerful contemporary reimagining of Professor Bernhardi, the classic play by Austrian dramatist Arthur Schnitzler. Transposing Schnitzler’s timeless ethical dilemma into a modern Indian context, the play explores the fault lines between medicine, religion, and public opinion in a world where a single decision can ignite a national reckoning.

This special event marks the first time the play will be performed in front of an audience as a staged reading, offering audiences a rare opportunity to experience a new work at an early stage of its life. The evening will conclude with a Q&A with Dr Farokh Udwadia, offering insight into the play’s themes, its origins, and the ethical questions at its heart.

Provocative, compassionate, and deeply human, The Doctor asks a haunting question: when lives are at stake, who has the right to decide what is right?

Box office now open.