Shortly after McKees Rocks doctor Ravi Godse began studying movie-making at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, he encountered something for the first time that shocked him.

"They gave me a 'C' grade," he said, astonishment still evident in his voice. "Before film school, I always was a very good student."

The doctor, however, had a decent excuse for his less-than-stellar start. At the same time that he began taking courses at the Oakland media center, he was working full time as an attending physician. His specialty is internal medicine.

He has since sought to make up for any initial cinematic shortcomings.

As part of his studies at Filmmakers between 2003 and 2005, Dr. Godse, whose office is in McKees Rocks, made two short films.

He describes "Life after Death" as a comic look at whether "there is death after life after death."

His other student effort, "Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde," was a 10-minute movie about an Indian-born physician -- based on himself -- who decides to make a film.

Dr. Godse has since expanded that movie to feature length, filling multiple roles as writer, producer, director and star.

The new version of "Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" was released last month on DVD by Inecom Entertainment Co. and also is available through video-on-demand services, such as Movielink. It had its only public showing at Shadyside Hospital, where many of the scenes were filmed.

"Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" is the first comedy released by Inecom, which is based in RIDC Park in O'Hara and is primarily a maker and distributor of documentary and instructional films.

"We're seeing a lot of interest in this movie," said Michael Bussler, Inecom's chief executive officer. "We aim to bring out products that will have a five-year to 10-year [sales] life. 'Dr. Ravi ...' is funny and should appeal to a lot of people. It deals with a lot of universal truths."

Now a U.S. citizen, Dr. Godse lives with his wife, Dr. Madhuri Mahajan, daughter, 9, and son, 5, in Indiana Township.

Dr. Godse was born outside Bombay, now called Mumbai, in 1968, the son of two educators. After attending medical school in India, he came to the United States in 1995, repeating his residency at the former St. Francis Medical Center in Lawrenceville.

Those who have visited Dr. Godse's office will recognize the location and his receptionist, Sandra Miller, in the movie.

Working with a budget of about $70,000, Dr. Godse used professionals to handle many of the technical jobs on the film, including director of photography Lou Yellin and lighting designer Jim Ledoux, but he combined their efforts with those of mostly amateur actors. Some of those appearing in the movie, such as Ms. Miller, were on screen for the first time.

Other cast members include Panfilo DiCenzo, a former opera singer, as his friend and confidant; Olga Segall, as his skeptical wife; TV reporter Dave Crawley as a self-obsessed film director; and retired sportscaster Myron Cope, as, well, Myron Cope. The many doctors in the movie were played by actual physicians, including cardiologist Dr. Bryan Donohue, Dr. Godse said.

Dr. Godse is at something of a loss to describe how and why he became involved in filmmaking -- other than it was linked to an early midlife crisis. He is 39.

In addition to his medical practice and young family, he has a number of other strong interests. "I once thought about becoming a professional chess player," he said. "But my teacher told me I was too short ... I still don't understand that."

He considered becoming a professional historian, but his parents urged him to study medicine and keep history as a hobby. As a result, another of his avocations -- the history of medicine -- combines both interests.

He also is the author of "Two Guys, Three Girls and a Mad Professor," a comic novel published in 2003 about the efforts of an Indian mother to find husbands for her two independent-minded daughters. The book was a best seller in India, he said.

More movies are made each year in Mumbai than in Hollywood, but Dr. Godse had only an indirect connection to India's increasingly international film industry.

His cousin, Madhuri Dixit, has been a star of Hindi-language movies since the late 1980s, and Web sites devoted to "Bollywood" films describe her as an icon and a diva of Indian cinema. "I used to chaperone her at film events," Dr. Godse said.

Even as "Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" was being released on DVD, Dr. Godse had completed filming of his next work, "I Am a Schizophrenic and So Am I," which he described as a courtroom drama and comedy.

This time he is limiting himself to writing, directing and producing. "Just a small [on-screen] part for me," he said.

Filmed with a higher-resolution digital camera, the result can be transferred to 35 mm film for release in theaters.

Shot in Pittsburgh and in Warsaw and Krakow in Poland, it will be edited and ready for viewing this month. His next task will be to find a distributor.

Dr. Godse hopes that "I Am a Schizophrenic and So Am I" will be shown in movie theaters before being released as a DVD.

He said he has no plans to give up medicine for filmmaking. "I enjoy medicine too much," he said.

How does he combine two demanding careers? "By not sleeping," he said.

His training and experience as a doctor brings several advantages to his work as a filmmaker.

"The movies are funny, but they still deal with serious business," he said. "As physicians, we have seen life and death. That can give us more maturity, or 'sang-froid,' in everything we do."

Also, he said, a doctor has another natural advantage as a filmmaker. When someone gets a message from a physician, most people will return the call. "At least the first one," he added.

Dr. Godse said a big part of his job as a doctor is to educate and inform his patients and their families. "When I have a patient in the hospital, I try to call the family daily to provide an update," he said.

"With the medium of film, I can send a message that is both funny and profound, not to one patient but maybe to a million. Film multiplies what I have to give as a physician."

And his message behind the jokes and comedy in "Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde," he said, is this:

"As long as you do something honestly, there is no shame in it, no matter how well or badly you do it."