I thought I'd share with you'll my ie as an actor, the very brief character sketch of Dr. Ashutosh in KTLK:
A young boy, around 8 years old, living in a small village somewhere in India. A village where basic amenities are not known..let alone medical facilities.
Some time earlier, around 6 months or so, this village was struck by a Haiza (cholera) epidemic, practically wiping out the entire village. Ashutosh lost his parents to this disease. However, fate allowed him to survive, but in inhuman conditions...he survived fighting for scraps of food from pariah dogs.
In this situation, Dr. Mathur found him and brought him to his home...A home this young child found as a barrier and protection from those pariah dogs which still lived on in his mind...A home that offered him the protection he needed. Dr. Mathur to Ashtosh became the symbol and confirmation of his life, of his existence.
Dr. Mathur educated Ashutosh to be a brilliant doctor, sending him abroad etc etc...Finally, this young destitute 8 year old grew up to be a supposedly well settled, well adjusted member of society, contributing to society with his medical expertise.
Unfortunately, the vacuum of the growing years and the desertion he suffered lived on in his psyche...waiting...
And then it happened...Dr. Mathur, without any warning whatsoever left...and then came the Will of Dr. Mathur leaving Ashutosh everything except the house.
Ashutosh was once again psychologically destitute. He now had to fend once again for himself, not for a scrap of food, but fend against the pariah dogs in his mind.
Interestingly, Mathur never legally adopted Ashutosh, never gave him the name Ashutosh Mathur...He was always just Ashutosh.
He unknowingly found solace in cutting himself off from any relation ship that he may grow to depend on. Obviously, the seeds to thinking pattern had been sown early in his life.
This man Ashutosh, while seemingly settled and successful, is unpredictable...not by choice, but by compulsion.
I have for him compassion...even pity. That is Ahustosh, everything fine on the outside...but within, a destitute, orphan, unpredictable...
If he can overcome these demons, then he becomes a hero. But in the process, how many lives, including his own will he ruin???
Book Talk
Anupamaa
