The docuseries offers a few interesting perspectives, but misses the mark overall!
“There are only two types of engineers the ones who are IITians, and those who wish they were IITians.” This pompous statement marks the beginning of the three-part docuseries, which attempts to show us student life in IIT Kharagpur. The series then informs us that Kharagpur was established by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951 to ‘show the world how far India could go’, adding that the IIT acceptance rate is more stringent than Ivy-league universities.
Director Pratik Patra and Prashant Raj are IIT alumni, and the insider’s gaze shows. Unfortunately, it often leaves out outsiders with no connection to the IIT experience. And so, the series, which is undoubtedly interesting in parts, unfolds like a family movie with inside jokes. So enclosed is the storytelling that interviewees are introduced as ‘Ashok Da Azad Hall’ which make no sense to an outsider.
Several former IIT Kharagpur students have expressed outrage at the institute’s decision to rename a multi-speciality hospital, originally named after Dr B.C. Roy, after Syama Prasad Mookerjee and posted comments on the Facebook page of director V.K. Tewari.
“What is the purpose of renaming the hospital from BC Roy to Shyamaprasad other than satisfying the PM and his coteries?” wrote Indrajit Dutt.
“Please remember, the hospital was named with great fanfare as BC ROY Hospital by APJ Abdul Kalam and you cannot take away this name of a great doctor on whims and fancies. You may be aware Shyamaprasad had no credentials in medicine or surgery and BC Roy excelled in this matter. I am attaching the photographs of the earlier inauguration as blatant proof of the glaring mistakes you are making. Tagging a few fellow IITians….”