The Great Pharma Film Quiz

Pharma is not a preferred industry sector for film scenario creation. Naturally, there are not too many films across Hollywood which depict my industry - Pharma or not as much as perhaps the IT or even the Hotel Industry.

Nor are there too many portrayals of Heroes from Pharma. Interestingly, Pharma scientists or CEOs make for great villains in Hollywood, as you will read further.

If Hollywood has lesser examples, the Hindi Film Industry in my memory has majorly only one movie where the lead character is an employee with a Pharma company. And the lead character is a Brand Manager/Product Manager!

I wonder how many of you would know these movies..

1. The Fugitive (1993): this Harrison Ford, cat and mouse chase thriller was a huge hit and an Oscar winner. A fictional pharma drug and pharma company created an intriguing formula in the movie. One thing is for sure, Hollywood does come up with authentic sounding names for Pharma companies and even drugs, no matter that they are fictional! Devlin-MacGregor was the name of the Pharmaceutical giant and the blockbuster path breaking drug was 'Provasic.' If you have not watched this gem of a movie, and it still features in your watch list, the time is now to devour this beauty!

2. Love, Sex and Other Drugs (2010): Jake Gyllenhaal dialled up the cool quotient and made we Pharma Marketing folks look suave and sophisticated when he depicted the Pfizer rep! The man with a mission (of ensuring Pfizer samples got prominent and the only place in the Doctor's clinic) is a scenario, we all have been through. The Viagra discussion episode is authentically built and perhaps gives us a peek into what must have happened when the blockbuster drug was launched in the US. Again, the way Hollywood has intertwined a story by building an authentic Pharma sales rep scenario, is a joy to watch.

3. Mission Impossible II (2000): Didn't I say, Hollywood conjures up fantastic but real sounding pharma names? This time they extended it to a Virus! The film follows Ethan Hunt as he is tasked by the the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) to find a dangerous biological weapon called "Chimera" from a rogue IMF agent. This Tom Cruise action thriller is the second in the famed Mission Impossible series. It is said that Cruise was heavily stressed over the expectations of the sequel being good.

4. Side Effects (2013): This is a 2013 American psychological thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh starring Rooney Mara as a woman who is prescribed experimental drugs by psychiatrists (Jude Law and and?Cahterine Zeta-Jones) after her husband is released from prison. Her assigned psychiatrist, prescribes a series of antidepressants but none work. Eventually, she is prescribed an experimental new drug, Ablixa (here comes another drug name). The drug seems to help the woman but gives her sleepwalking episodes as a side effect.?So much for the RWEs we keep talking about!

5. Benaam (1974): There is not a single fellow-colleague who has been able to crack any of these questions:-

Which is that Hindi Film that depicts a Pharma Company as the backdrop of the story line? Ans: Benaam.

What job profile, the leading man is shown to have? Ans: Brand Manager.

Which company has Amitabh Bachchan been shown to be working for? Ans: Glaxo (it was 1974, when Glaxo was Glaxo...btw Glaxo Bus Stop in Bombay's BEST buses is pronounced as Glasgo stop:)

Benaam was the rare and only (?) Hindi Film which depicted a Pharma company as a part of the story line. Amitabh Bachchan portrays a Glaxo Product Manager who witnesses a late night murder (perhaps near Worli?). His son is kidnapped and through the entire movie we are taken through this thrilling ride of unmasking the murderer and the kidnapper. One of the rare, last minute, edge-of-the-seat early films, Benaam is still a great watch today. In one scene, Amitabh's colleague in Glaxo even carries some prototypes of advertising material (Visual Aid?) of their baby products and the two characters are shown discussing the pharma promotion material!

6. Doc Martin (2004 - present): Last notable mention, comes from shores of the U.K. Doc Martin is a charming British TV Series, depicting realistically the practice of a GP in a quaint seaside hamlet in England. What is surprising is the true-to-life research done to ensure the GP (main character) gives out authentic diagnosis and treatment on screen to patients suffering from Shingles to Accidents to Common Fevers. The drugs prescribed by the Doctor are also absolutely correct. For all of you, who love a quaint medical romcom here is one which is quite charming. Enjoy!

Image Acknowledgement: The images used are for academic purposes of this article only. Image ownership lie with the respective production companies as follows: The Fugitive - Warner Bros., Love, Sex & Other Drugs - 20th Century Fox, Side Effects - Endgame Entertainment, FilmNation Entertainment and Di Bonaventura Pictures, Doc Martin - Buffalo Pictures & ITV Studios, Benaam - Shemaroo Films.