Placebo

Abhay Kumar’s hybrid documentary PLACEBO is a chilling examination of one of the most competitive institutions in the world—All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Every year thousands of aspiring doctors apply, but only 0.1% of the applicants can finally count themselves as part of the elite community of admitted medical students (Harvard’s acceptance rate is 7% in comparison). In 2011 a violent student brawl left Kumar’s younger brother Sahil with an immobile right arm, a year before he was expected to write his final exams at AIIMS. With Sahil’s dreams of a successful career in medicine seemingly dashed, Kumar—equipped with only a Handycam—sets out to understand life amongst the “geniuses” at AIIMS and to investigate why more and more students are committing suicide. Through extensive student interviews over a two-year period and surreal animated sequences, Kumar reveals a student body plagued by overwhelming pressure from parents, faculty, administrators, other students, and themselves. Still, despite the many demons haunting current students, the best of the best continue to strive for the “placebo” of prestige granted by this esteemed institution. (In English and Hindi with subtitles) – E.B.