3 min readNew DelhiFeb 11, 2026 06:41 PM IST
- Sreeleela got her medical degree from Pune college on Tuesday. But she isn’t the first actor to have an MBBS degree.
- Shriram Lagoo started working in movies when he was an ENT surgeon.
- Shriram Lagoo’s medical license was cancelled when he endorsed Chyawanprash as it was seen as an ethical conflict.
Actor Sreeleela recently graduated with her medical degree from DY Patil Medical College in Pune. Her fans and admirers are showering praise on the actor as she has managed to complete one of the most difficult education courses along with being an actor in the movies. But, she isn’t the first actor who will be working in the movies alongside being a doctor. Decades ago, Marathi actor Shriram Lagoo started his career in the movies at a time when he was already a medical doctor, but his license was cancelled after he appeared in an advertisement for a consumer product.
Shriram Lagoo finished his medical degree from BJ Medical College and practiced as an ENT surgeon in Pune and Tanzania back in the 1960s. It was during his first year in the medical college that he got introduced to theatre. From then on, theatre became his passion and while he continued to practice medicine, he eventually switched to acting full time.
Shriram Lagoo’s medical license was cancelled for product endorsement
But, when he appeared in an advertisement for Dabur Chywanprash in 1980, Lagoo’s medical license was revoked. His advertisement created quite a furore as it was seen that as a doctor, he was endorsing a product in exchange for financial gains. This was an ethical conflict and soon, the Medical Council of India (MCI) cancelled his license and he was not allowed to practice medicine any longer.
A few years later, in a chat with Tabassum, Lagoo acknowledged the same when she asked him if he was a doctor of medicine and he said, “I am currently not a doctor of any kind. I used to be an ENT surgeon once upon a time.” He did not provide any more explanation for the same. In the same chat, he shared that he started his acting journey with theatre and was known to be one of the doyens of Marathi theatre. He shared that while he did theatre extensively in the beginning, he eventually switched to films. But despite that, he continued his theatre career.
Some of his popular films include Gandhi, Vidhaata, Laawaris, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Gharaonda, Kinara, Devkinandan Gopala, Samna among others.
Shriram Lagoo passed away in 2019 at 92 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
