Amazon Prime Video’s medical thriller ‘Mumbai Diaries 26/11’ is now streaming and takes you in the midst of a group of doctors at Bombay General Hospital, struggling to cope with the influx of victims of the 2008 terrorist attacks.
The plot opens with the group of Lashkar terrorists infiltrating Mumbai on December 26, 2008, and beginning the gruesome attacks at numerous places across the city.
The narrative then shifts to 11 hours earlier and showcases three trainee doctors set to join the Bombay General Hospital’s (BGH) Trauma Surgery wing under the genius Dr. Kaushik Oberoi (Mohit Raina).
These newbies — Dr. Diya Parekh (Natasha Bharadwaj), Dr. Ahaan Mirza (Satyajeet Dubey), and Dr. Sujata Ajawale (Mrunmayee Deshpande) — are forced to witness the urgency of surgery first hand after Kaushik rushes in with a patient with severe injuries.
Owing to all Operation Theatres being occupied, Kaushik decides to perform a critical surgical procedure in the Emergency Room itself, taking the help of the trainees and Nurses Anju Varghese (Princy Sudhakaran), Vidya Paul (Adithi Kalkunte), and Sneha Cherian (Balaji Gauri).
Even though the procedure manages to stabilise the patient, the clear breach of protocol is not met with pleasantries. Kaushik immediately has to face the wrath of BGH’s Chief Medical Officer, Mani Subramaniam (Prakash Belawadi) and the Police officer in charge, Inspector Mayank Bhatt (Akshay Kothari).
Mayank harasses Kaushik for not following protocol and threatens to arrest him, but Subramaniam urges him to give a final warning and let him go. The plot then introduces Chitra Das (Konkona Sen Sharma), BCG’s Social Services Director, who is responsible for the allotment of free treatment for patients.
She is seen locking horns with Dr. Romani (Harssh Singh) for not paying attention to one of the older patients, Paramjeet Kaur (Mohini Sharma). Romani brushes it off by claiming that there’s nothing wrong with her and it’s just old age that is keeping her in the hospital.
Chitra presses further and Romani gets personal and insults her credibility. This moment has a deep impact on her as she gets flashbacks from her abusive marriage, suggesting deep-rooted trauma. The day goes on and Kaushik’s best friend, Dr. Sahil Aggarwal (Mishal Raheja) shows up from Ellora Hospital to confront the former on a forged signature that he did to order medical equipment in Sahil’s name.
The two have a heated exchange but things calm down and they discuss Kaushik’s troubled personal life in the cafeteria. He reveals that he hasn’t been on speaking terms with his wife, Ananya (Tina Desai), who is a Food & Beverages manager at the Palace Hotel, after she had a miscarriage and he wasn’t there for her due to work.
It is then revealed to the viewers that Kaushik is leaving BGH for Ellora to make time for Ananya, and work on his marriage. This is where the trainees finally get to sit with Kaushik to introduce themselves but he urges them to start next week when his replacement will show up.
Meanwhile, the terrorists start wreaking havoc across the city and just as the day seems done and dusted, hoards of gunshot victims start pouring in, sending the hospital and its doctors into meltdown.
Do the doctors manage to handle the situation? what happens when terrorists turn their attention towards BGH?
Here is the ‘Mumbai Diaries 26/11’ ending explained in detail:
Mayhem at BGH
There aren’t enough beds, rooms, and people to handle the chaos that follows at the hospital. The trainees get involved, Sahil, acting as a visiting doctor, gets ready to help, and even Subramaniam steps up.
Unfortunately, one of the victims is revealed to be Nurse Anju Varghese who had left after her shift due to her son’s birthday. With Kaushik being busy elsewhere, Ahaan is handed the responsibility to save her but is unable to. This angers Anju’s friend and fellow nurse, Samarth Joshi (Pushkaraj Chirputkar), who starts racially stereotyping Ahaan and calling him a murderer.
Elsewhere, Sujata and Diya start helping the nurses with patients and the former is shown to be an immensely stern woman, wanting to do everything by herself. This is due to her biased upbringing and her belonging to a lower cast which forced her to face societal hurdles to get where she is.
On the other hand, Diya is the daughter of an already famous doctor and has had a lavish upbringing. However, her father’s toxic and overbearing attitude causes her to fall into depression and deal with anxiety. She is seen popping anti-anxiety pills throughout the chaos to stay sane.
Furthermore, Diya’s parents are in the Palace hotel when the terrorists strike, owing to a function facilitating her father’s achievements — an event which is being managed by Kaushik’s wife, Ananya. This furthers personal problems for the two of them but they are forced to focus on the matter at hand.
Chitra, meanwhile, is worried about Paramjeet who starts showing signs of declining health. She forces Romani to order some tests and asks for Ayaan’s help to carry them out. This is when she comforts him about Anju’s passing and tells him that noting the time of death is going to be an unfortunate part of this job.
Ahaan reveals that he became a doctor to save lives after his family’s orthodox approach caused his sister’s death. She suffered from epilepsy but his family thought her to be possessed and took her to a Maulvi instead of the hospital.
Things finally seem to be slowing down when Subramaniam reveals to Kaushik and Sahil that the Mumbai Police’s ATS team has been in a firefight with the perpetrators and they’re being brought to BGH for treatment.
Media complications
Another angle to this story is via the eyes of a media personnel, Mansi Hirani (Shreya Dhanwanthary), who is after a ‘killer’ story amidst the chaos.
She is depicted to be heartless and selfish, only chasing glory by breaking exclusive news and providing footage of the ongoing attacks. She chases a bunch of police vehicles in the media van alongside her cameraman and manages to get footage of the said firefight.
After capturing the video, she sends it to her editor and the news channel runs it, letting the audience know of the scale of these attacks. Mansi then rushes to the hospital when news about the ATS chief being injured comes to the forefront.
Her boss pushes her to go to Palace Hotel instead where the firing is raging on but she refuses because she senses a better story at the hospital. Samarth, who is Mansi’s BGH contact, confirms to her that ATS Chief, Anant Kelkar has perished and Dr. Kaushik decided to operate and save a terrorist who was also brought in injured.
This whole ordeal of Kaushik operating on a terrorist doesn’t sit well with many including ACP Mahesh Tawde (Sandesh Kulkarni) who pulls a gun on him for trying to save the man who killed a serving police officer.
Kaushik defends himself by putting in professionalism and suggesting that as a doctor he’s supposed to save lives without being the judge of a person’s character.
Mansi’s boss, however, refuses to run the story without evidence but a rival channel does so. An angered Mansi fakes an accident and infiltrates BGH to get more information by herself. While in there, she gets information on the presence of two terrorists at the hospital as well as Kaushik treating one of them despite his deeds.
This news sends shockwaves across the hospital, as Kaushik’s troubled history and protocol breaking habits are also made public by Mansi. What she doesn’t realise is that this update is also viewed by the terrorists’ handler in Pakistan who instructs two of them to infiltrate BGH and rescue their brethren.
The Attacks
The two militants make their way to BGH and wreak havoc across the hospital. They kill many as the doctors and the police work hand in hand to switch off lights, lock doors and sneak patients into secure areas.
Elsewhere, at the Palace Hotel, Ananya does her best to calm her important guests — that include Diya’s parents — and sneak them out of the service corridors. She manages to sneak out one group and is delighted to see the outdoors but decides to head back in and save the remaining people.
As the police gets into a firefight with the terrorists in the hospital, they take Chitra hostage and manage to rescue one of their partners. The tussle causes an explosion, and in the confusion, the militants take Chitra and hide in one of the rooms.
Kaushik and Diya are near the former’s office when the explosion causes the roof to collapse over them. At the same time, Paramjeet is hit with three bullets in the crossfire. Ahaan, Samarth, Vidya, and Mansi bring the old lady to safety and try to save her.
Samarth finds Sahil who then instructs Mansi to get Kaushik. She finds him and Diya stuck under debris but manages to get them out. Kaushik is injured but instructs Sahil and the other to perform a procedure to save Paramjeet.
This is when Kaushik finally gets in touch with Ananya and the two patch things up. She reveals to him that she’s managed to get two groups of guests out but is heading back inside with the freshly arrived NSG to get the last ones out as well.
Meanwhile, Sujata is stuck in the ICU with Mayank (who is also injured) as the terrorists make their way there. One of them kills their injured partner, as he cannot rescue him. He threatens Sujata and leaves but drops a bomb detonator in the ICU. They later strap Chitra in an explosive vest but realise they don’t have anything to detonate it with, so they try to bluff their way out.
Fortunately, Ahaan rushes to the ICU and lets Sujata know of the operation being carried out. This is where Mayank gives the detonator to him and urges him to rush downstairs to let the police know of the militants’ deception.
In the final moments as day breaks, Ahaan reaches the spot of confrontation and screams about having the device. The police then opened fire, killing the terrorists and saving Chitra. However, ACP Tawde also loses his life in the shootout.
The Palace hotel situation seems to be coming along well too until the NSG is met with explosive resistance. Ananya helps Diya’s parents and a few other guests to escape via a window with the help of the fire brigade. However, one remaining terrorist confronts them before they can make their way out.
Fortunately, a commando shoots him down before he can take aim but his gun goes loose before he falls to the ground.
The doctors and survivors at BGS finally make their way out and are met with applause.
Ananya reaches the hospital and hugs Kaushik but it is also revealed that Diya’s mom passed away due to being hit in the final moments before being rescued. Diya climbs into the ambulance and breaks down next to her father.
The traumatic 60 hours finally come to an end and the city starts healing itself from the very next day. Mansi heads back to office and receives a promotion for daring journalism but introspects her actions that caused the chaos in the first place.
Kaushik and Ananya make up, and the former decides to stay at BGH. The trainees return to work a week later and are comforted to find Kaushik as their boss. Chitra too returns and greets a now healing Paramjeet. Life slowly returns to normalcy at Bombay General Hospital.
If you’re curious about how the show was created, check out:
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