Trade behind your meds

Riteish Deshmukh plays a deputy medicine controller in Gupta’s show

The incidents that happen around us every day are the ones that interest Raj Kumar Gupta most. From No One Killed Jessica (2011) to Raid (2018), the director has brought to the screen hard-hitting stories that had their roots in real life. Now, for his maiden web series Pill, he has trained his lens on the pharmaceutical industry. "While I had many offers to direct web series earlier, the stories didn't appeal to me as this concept did. We all are consuming pills every day, and we live in an environment where we are impacted by what we see and read. While these form the bases of Pill, it's a fictional take on the medical world," says the
creator-co-director.

The JioCinema offering sees Riteish Deshmukh as a deputy medicine controller, who raises his voice against a pharmaceutical company that rolls out a drug, with grave side-effects, in the market. With the show, Gupta wants the audience to be aware of the malpractices of the healthcare industry. "How many times does an average Indian pop pills in a year? It's important to know what goes into the pill, how it is made, and whether taking drugs is safe or not. We've read about fake or substandard drugs. Those are the questions we've raised with Pill. It's a blend of thriller, drama, and investigative journalism," he says of the show that was shot in Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai.

In Deshmukh, Gupta found a perfect collaborator whose acting and directing experience enabled him to judge the material better. "Riteish is a director's actor. Being a director himself, he knows filmmaking. So, when he comes on set as an actor, he has his own suggestions and queries. It's always welcome if an actor comes on my set with his intellect."