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STEM CELL CINEMA. Dr. Shelley Chawla stops for a photograph in an examination room at his office in Topeka, Kansas. Two years ago, Chawla wrote a book addressing the embryonic stem cell controversy through one fictional family’s struggles with the issue. The book led to a screenplay, which has become a film called Hope, shot in the Kansas City area and New Delhi, India last year. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
From The Asian Reporter, V18, #24 (June 17, 2008), page 8.
Doctor’s stem cell novel adapted for big screen
By Margaret Stafford
Associated Press Writer
KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Dr. Shelley Chawla is tired of watching his patients suffer.
And Chawla, a neurologist in Topeka, Kansas, fervently believes that some of the suffering he sees while treating chronically ill patients could be eased by embryonic stem cell research, which has been delayed in the U.S. by political and religious opposition.
Two years ago, Chawla’s frustration prompted him to write a book that addresses the embryonic stem cell controversy through one fictional family’s struggles with the issue. The book led to a screenplay, which is to become a film called Hope, shot in the Kansas City area and New Delhi, India last year.
Hope centers on a conservative U.S. senator who opposes embryonic stem cell research. That belief is tested when his son is left a quadriplegic after an ugly crime, and the senator faces intense pressure from his family to take him to India, where stem cell research offers hope. But the senator knows that course would likely cost him his constituents’ support.
"The point of the movie is to put the whole issue in a personal perspective," Chawla said. "All of these people saying no (to the research), what would they say if they need it some day?"
While Chawla passionately supports the research, the movie leaves it uncertain whether the senator’s son is taken to India or to a rehabilitation clinic in the U.S.
Rich Ambler, of Ambler Films in Fairway, Kansas, directed the U.S. leg of the story and said the ambiguous ending was important.
"The audience is going to be divided on whether they’re pro and con anyway, so why not leave it that way?" Ambler said. "Why hit them over the head and say this is how it must end?"
iDream Independent Pictures, based in London and Mumbai, India, is distributing the film. iDream specializes in independent films from India that have the potential to reach worldwide audiences, such as Monsoon Wedding and Bend it Like Beckham.
Hope was screened in early April at the MIPTV multimedia market in Cannes, France, where thousands of TV, film, and digital-media buyers search for independent films to support. It also had two screenings at the Cannes Film Festival sales market in May.
Chawla, 43, a native of India, based part of the story in that country because embryonic stem cell research is being conducted there and in other parts of the world, where he said Christian conservatives do not have as much political influence as they do in the U.S. Many of the investors in his film were Indian doctors, who helped raise about $500,000.
Supporters contend embryonic stem cell research has shown the most promise for growing replacements for damaged tissue, which could lead to treatments for myriad diseases including diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and spinal cord injuries.
However, opponents of embryonic stem cell research believe procedures that extract stem cells from human embryos end lives because the embryos are destroyed.
Dr. Lori Buffa, a pediatrician from St. Peters, Missouri is chairwoman of the Missouri group Cures Without Cloning, which supports ethical and promising stem cell research but believes using human embryonic stem cells is unnecessary. She said other research methods, such as use of adult stem cells or direct reprogramming of stem cells, are effective and do not require the expense or raise the ethical dilemmas associated with embryonic stem cell research.
"There are multiple methods of achieving the kind of results that supporters of human cloning research say that there is," Buffa said. "Adult stem cell, for example, has advanced so far that patients around the world are already able to benefit from cures and therapies."
But Chawla said he moved to the U.S. to complete his neurology training and medical residency because he believes that this country offers the best medical research and treatments.
"It just seems like this one perspective is holding back research for the whole world," Chawla said. "The world is looking at us for better research. We have lagged behind in the stem cell race because we are bogged down by politicians and fanatics."
Chawla and Ambler, who also supports stem cell research, insist the film presents an evenhanded look at the controversy.
"The audience can go to see the movie and pick your own ending," Ambler said. "I just want them to make the story their own. It’s much more engaging than if you just sit there and tell them what to think."