An early example of social realism that reached its height with 'Udayer Pathey' and more memorably with 'Chhinnamul', 'Doctor' was meant as a stringent critique of practices that were beginning to be deemed as persistant evils that plague society, namely superstitions, religious dogma and discrimination on the basis of caste. However, that would be a far too simplistic reading of the multiple thematic elements that tie together the narrative of 'Doctor'. The idea of caste based discrimination, violence and upper-caste hypocrisy is placed alongside the notions of generational conflict in a father-son relationship and the idea of a ever-widening generation gap especially in the historical and socio-political context of the film.