A 1959 black-and-white film. A young Raj Kapoor. The film, Anari, a story that dealt with counterfeit medicines.
BMIIL opened today’s workshop with that clip on counterfeit medicines — (a clip where Raj Kapoor is confronting the owner of the pharma company, whose medicine kills the character of Mrs. Disa in the movie). As the clip played out I watched 64 students & faculty fall silent. Because here’s the thing: that film is 67 years old. And the problem it depicted? Still very much alive.
Few days back we had the privilege of facilitating a Hands-on innovation workshop at Varun Arjun Medical College, Shahjahanpur, UP — with a room full of pharmacy and forensic science students, alongside their faculty.
We divided 64 participants into 9 teams, each handed a problem statement that sat right at the intersection of pharmacology and forensics No textbooks. No right answers. Just real problems that demand real thinking.
What came next genuinely surprised us.
The ideas were sharp. A few were compelling enough to make us pause and think — why hasn’t someone built this yet?
The pitches were full of energy. There were arguments and counter arguments, all in the best possible way.
BMIIL came in hoping to spark curiosity and left having learned something for us.
A special thanks to Dr.Mansi Agarwal, who is the campus catalyst for the pharmacy college at Varun Arjun College of Pharmacy.
