For Bollywood buffs, “Uff Yoo Maa” brings back images of Dev Anand serenading Asha Parekh.
But for Geeta Gopalakrishnan, this song has a more profound association. It is about a cancer fund-raising event, where 100 years of Hindi cinema will be showcased in 100 minutes.
It is also deeply personal for Gopalakrishnan, as it brings back memories of her close friend and film buff, Amina Hussain, who succumbed to cancer.
Gopalakrishnan has been involved with Kolkata-based Tata Medical Centre, now in its third year, and is behind the conception and execution of
The silver screen’s enchanting ladies, Waheeda Rehman, Tanuja Mukherjee, Asha Parekh, Shabana Azmi, Kajol Mukherjee Devgn and Sonam Kapoor, besides lyricist Javed Akhtar, filmmaker, music composer Vishal Bharadwaj and radio’s distinct voice, Ameen Sayani, will regale the audience with “unknown anecdotes” set in a Mumbai street-like location, says Gopalakrishnan.
Funds from the event will go towards expanding the 167-bed Tata Medical Centre with another 250 beds, at a project cost of Rs 200 crore. In addition, satellite facilities will be set up in the Eastern and the North-Eastern States.
Eastern expansion
The region sees a large number of head and neck and gastro-intestinal cancers, says Mammen Chandy, Tata Medical Centre Director, without endorsing local perception that links these cancers to the high arsenic content in the ground water.
Funded by the Tata Trust and other donors, the fledging hospital already sees about 10,000 new patients per year and 30,000 repeat visits, says Chandy. It also gets a large patient inflow from Bangladesh and Pakistan and is the referral agency for Bhutan, he added.
At any time, half the patients receive subsidised or free treatment, he said, adding that they also treat several children with leukaemia.
The hospital is exploring the viability of satellite centres in the North Eastern States, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha. They are looking at a “shared-care model”, he said, where they would lend their expertise and support to existing medical facilities in the region. The plan is to also partner with the Central Government through the ministry for the development of the North East.
A separate facility to house patient families is also coming up on land owned by the medical centre, he said and Coal India is expected to fund this. Other donors include Indian Oil Corporation, which is giving Rs 66 crore and the Tata Steel distributors network with Rs 3.5 crore. Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala have pledged to donate Rs 1 crore every year.
Tata Medical Centre has no links to the Mumbai-based Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, said Chandy.