Dr Arora wouldn’t have been possible without the Indian Railways, says Imtiaz Ali

The trailer of the Kumud Mishra-starrer Dr Arora – Gupt Rog Visheshagya (2022), which released yesterday, revealed that the SonyLIV show is a light-hearted saga about a sex specialist and his patients. 

Writer and creator of the show Imtiaz Ali has shared that the idea of the show came to him during his many long-distance train journeys. 

“Dr Arora – Gupt Rog Visheshagya would never [have] been made if there wasn’t the great Indian Railways taking me from Jamshedpur to Delhi and back to the heartland of India several times a year. I realised that the most advertised product or service in those areas was that of local sex doctors. It intrigued me no end and I sat endlessly at the window seat of those trains wondering what it would be inside the clinics of such doctors, what would it be to have those ailments and live in these small north Indian towns?” Ali said in a statement. 

Speaking on how he used this to construct the story of the show, he added, “All the intrigue, social awkwardness and humour I have imagined over the years travelling through those towns has been poured into the forthcoming [show] Dr Arora. Special mention to SonyLIV for lapping up this story right at the onset and raising it with love. It was the extraordinary talent and effort of the two wonderful directors Sajid Ali and Archit Kumar that could turn this contemporary fantasy into a show of a flavour that I have not experienced either in my work or in other contemporary film or series. I am very eager to see the audience reaction to this one.” 

The show is Mishra’s second outing with Imtiaz after Rockstar (2011). “Dr Arora is a refreshing take on an important issue that demands more and more conversations around it as that is the only way it can be normalized,” the actor said. “The concept is very different from everything that I have done so far. This is my second innings with Imtiaz and SonyLIV and it has been an absolute pleasure. Imtiaz is a genius storyteller, and I can’t wait to see how people receive the show releasing on 22 July only on SonyLIV.” 

Mishra’s previous association with Sony LIV was with the film Ram Singh Charlie (2020).