Adar Poonawalla echoes Khushi Kapoor's vaccine argument from Nadaaniyan, says he's allowed to make creative inputs in Dharma movies

Indian Express

a day ago

In the widely panned film Nadaaninyan, Khushi Kapoor's character tells her parents that she has been practicing her debating skills, and proceeds to make an argument for pharma companies charging money for vaccines during the pandemic. Nadaaniyan was produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, whose new co-owner is the Serum Institute of India's Adar Poonawalla. In the movie, Khushi's character says that the pharma sector needs to be funded in order to innovate, and that providing free vaccines would ultimately harm the industry. In a new interview, Adar Poonawalla made the same arguments. He told journalist Barkha Dutt on MojoStory that he needs the money not for personal reasons, but to fund further innovation in the sector.
In Nadaaniyan, Khushi's character says that she has taken a keen interest in debating, which prompts her father, played by Suniel Shetty, to ask what her latest subject was. She says, 'It was a debate around the morality of private healthcare. Was it right to sell vaccines during the pandemic, or should they have been distributed for free.' She tells him that she chose to argue for the motion, because she wanted to give herself a 'challenge'. Her father remarks, 'You were for it, really? Arguing against it would've been easier. You would've got moral brownie points. So, what was your argument?'
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She says, 'I wanted a challenge, so I argued that the raw materials for vaccines are expensive. Syringes and serums obviously don't grow on trees. Not to mention the compensation deserved by scientists who've devoted their entire lives to finding a cure for this virus in such a short time. If the government or some charitable trust can cover these costs, we can distribute the vaccines to the public for free. Otherwise, pharmaceutical companies will go bankrupt, and no one will ever invest in finding the cure for any disease. Honestly, it's really the only sustainable way to fund and incentivise scientific development.' Her impressed father reacts, 'Was that my baby princess arguing? Look at you! You kept it so balanced and nuanced.'
In his interview with Barkha Dutt, Poonwalla spoke about charging money for vaccines during the pandemic, and offered some context first, 'If you really look at where people are spending money today, on consumer goods, on beauty, on clothes, on cars, phones, bikes, paying Rs 400 for a vaccine as opposed to Rs 200 is not a significant increase. Even today there's a battle about price-capping being controlled by the government. If you want a Pfizer, GSK or a big company that can make, create, and innovate in India, instead of us having to partner with foreign institutes that create these molecules, you need this industry to thrive. Look at the IT or auto industries; the average company is making $1 billion in profits in a quarter. Our turnover, despite being the largest in the world, is just $1 billion. A Pfizer or GSK is 100 times that.'
He continued, 'If I want to spend $500 million to create a new molecule for a vaccine, where do I get the money? My profit is some $300 million, and that's not enough for even one product. For example, we funded our malaria vaccine over five years, and managed that way. India has the best talent, the most hardworking people. Our costs in all other infrastructure are quite low. All we need is the ability to price our products in a way which is fair, and make enough profits. What are we going to do with the profits? I can't take it to heaven. I'm going to make more vaccines with it. People say, 'You're going to make more money'. But what am I going to do with that money? I'm making new vaccines to protect you only. We want to make in India, create in India, and innovate in India, but how are we going to do that?'
In the same interview, he said that Karan Johar continues to hold complete creative freedom over Dharma projects, but that he will also be open to any inputs that he, Adar, were to make.