The journey was far from easy.

Aptly titled The Road Less Travelled, a retrospective documentary - a first-of-its-kind on a living physician - chronicles the life and times of Dr Anupam Dasgupta and how he meandered his way to the top braving odds.

'This is a small initiative on my part to tell the world about this extraordinary human being who has healed lives with sheer dedication,' Debasish Mitra, the director of Alteus Biogenics Private Limited, said on the sidelines of the film's maiden screening recently. Mitra was the main organiser of the event.

Who would have known a village boy from Debhata (now in Bangladesh) would go on to become one of the most celebrated neurologists of India? Dasgupta, a brilliant student since childhood, had to share a hurricane lamp with his cousins to prepare his lessons.

The 55-minute documentary touched upon many crucial junctures of Dasgupta's life. 'After completing my stint at Presidency College and Calcutta Medical College, I was encouraged to pursue MRCP in England. It took a lot of thinking and re-thinking as much was at stake... With little knowledge in neurology, I failed to prove my worth in the first instance and I was told to take the next ship back home,' Dasgupta said. 'From then on, there was no looking back.'

Dasgupta was the first Asian to have received Edinburgh University Fellowship for PhD in EMG and Neurophysiology. He has worked at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago in close association with many Nobel laureates. But he chose to answer the call of his motherland and returned home soon after.

'My association with Dr Dasgupta dates back to a time when medical facilities were limited here. I bought an MRI machine from abroad but did not know how to set it up. That is when Dr Dasgupta came to my help. Since then, he has been my mentor and teacher,' said Dr Pranab Dasgupta, the head of the gynaecology department at AMRI and the president of East Bengal Club.

Over the years, Dasgupta has touched numerous lives. in more ways than one. More than 10 schools in North 24-Parganas, including his alma mater, receive scholarships from him.

At 80, Dasgupta finds it difficult to keep an account of all his achievements. But he still considers himself privileged for having treated Satyajit Ray at Belle Vue in the last few days of his life. 'I was part of the panel that looked after him. He had just received the Lifetime Achievement Oscar back then. I remember him telling me about his plans to float his next venture. He even invited me to his sets. But 14 days later Ray left us.'