Private Project

32 White

Why do dentists have the highest suicide rate among health care professionals in India?
In 32 White, we travel to Davanagere, a small town in Karnataka, India, known for one of the best dental colleges in India and investigate the cavities in the system.
The film traces the lives of over 15 dental students, in their last year at the institute and skirts the perimeter of their changed lives by visiting the unseen and unknown segments of pressure, stress and unethical practices they indulge in, just to become dentists.
32 White is segmented into chapters which we call cavities, each dwelling over issues like caste, creed, ragging, family pressure, professor harassment, peer pressure, dental syllabus and many more leading into the last chapter: Dental Suicides.
Shot in 2010, and investigations running until 2018, 32 White sheds light over some of the most daunting aspects of India’s professional health care institutes in the nation and how the system is screaming for a change, but none are willing to take the plunge. Dominated by principals and professors of these esteemed institutes, holding the key to a students final degree release, hence giving them the power to get away with unprofessional and corrupt practices.

  • Mriidu Khosla
    Director
  • Mriidu Khosla
    Writer
  • Charu Khosla
    Producer
  • Jason Moss
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 54 minutes 55 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 2, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    10,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    English, Hindi, Kannada
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital Canon 7D
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Mriidu Khosla

Mriidu Khosla, Founder/Director at, Zcyphher (An independent creative agency) is a documentary filmmaker with two award-winning documentaries under her belt as an Assistant Director, ‘Inshallah Football’ (National Award Winner) and Inshallah Kashmir.
Mentioned by ELLE magazine as rising stars of India, Mriidu is also the Co-Founder/Managing Director of Cat Café Studio and Trustee of The Feline Foundation.
In the past decade under Zcyphher she has directed over 400 films, in the fashion, corporate, lifestyle, beauty, architecture, publication and digital brand films sectors.

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Director Statement

32 White puts the Indian dental college system under the spot light, revealing it’s hardships, it’s deceiving portrayal of achievements and the trauma faced by the students. The film calls attention to the inconsistencies in the system and the true cost that is paid for becoming a health care professional in India.
Scrambling through countless chapters, with countless dentists of 32 White, only one girl truly wanted to be a Dentist.
So why were the others even there?
While some got into this profession because they didn’t clear the medical exams, the others due to family pressure, few as an escape from engineering and most because of the title of a ‘Doctor’, respectably accepted in the society for future prestige and better marriage proposals.
But reality strikes when these students enter the system and have no way out. More out of embarrassment for the family of these students in the community. While many survived, some broke, few just left. Left the entire maze for good. But who is to be blamed for this?
The parents, the society, the community, the administration, the education or the entire system as a whole? What truly contributes to the cavity in the system?