Illness as Narrative: Deconstructing Patient Experience in 'Guzaarish' by Sanjay Leela Bhansali through a Medical Humanities Lens

Abstract Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2010 film Guzaarish presents a poignant portrayal of Ethan Mascarenhas, a celebrated magician rendered quadriplegic after an accident, who petitions the court for the right to die through euthanasia. This paper employs a medical humanities lens, drawing primarily from the theoretical frameworks outlined in Medical Humanities: An Introduction and Literature and Medicine, to deconstruct the multifaceted patient experience depicted in the film. It argues that Guzaarish functions as a powerful illness narrative, challenging purely biomedical understandings of disease by foregrounding the protagonist's subjective experience of suffering, loss of autonomy, and search for meaning. The analysis explores how Ethan constructs his narrative through memory, his radio show, and his legal petition, highlighting the limitations of language in conveying profound suffering and the tension between patient autonomy and societal/medical control. Furthermore, the paper examines the film’s engagement with bioethical debates surrounding euthanasia, disability representation, and the ethics of care, ultimately demonstrating how a medical humanities approach enriches our understanding of the complex interplay between illness, identity, narrative, and the socio-cultural context of medicine. Keywords: Medical Humanities, Narrative Medicine, Illness Narrative, Guzaarish, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Patient Experience, Quadriplegia, Disability Studies, Euthanasia, Bioethics, Autonomy, Suffering, Representation, Film Studies.