The Railway Men director Shiv Rawail talks about how he and his team brought the Bhopal gas tragedy on screen with utmost sensitivity and addresses comparisons with Chernobyl.
Netflix’s upcoming series The Railway Men is a harrowing tale of a few Indian Railway employees who saved hundreds of lives in the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy, inspired by true stories. The show, which is set to premiere this week, has intrigued viewers with its trailer, with many comparing its tone to HBO’s critically-acclaimed drama Chernobyl. In an exclusive chat with DNA, the show’s director Shiv Rawail talks about the show, handling it sensitively, and why Chernobyl comparisons do’t bother him.
Shiv Rawail says he chose to make this story because it is something the world needs to see. “In a topic like this, it is hard to film. It is gut-wrenching, it really disturbs you. These stories were done because though we all know what happened, they need to be taken to the world. You need to have a take on these stories, a perspective on them. That’s what Railway Men is. During one of the darkest nights of Indian history, we are telling you a story of hope. It’s a story about human spirit, compassion, and the human spirit,” says the filmmaker.
But how does one take stories from a grave tragedy, the world’s worst industrial disaster that killed 20,000 people, and make something engaging out of it. Rawail responds, “That comes down to two things. First is the intention and second is the aesthetics. You do this as a balance of these two. The intention is the reason you are doing this. Our intention is very clean. It is not to unnecessary dramatise things. Then the aesthetics. I take pride in saying that we work with the best crews out there, who put all this on screen. We believe that we need to keep the audience engaged but not sensationalise things. There are two really important sets of people we need to think about – the actual Railway employees, and the survivors and families of the Bhopal gas leaks. We have to be sensitive towards them.”
The Bhopal gas tragedy has often been referred to as ‘India’s Chernobyl’ in the West, which is ironic since the Bhopal tragedy took place two years before the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But there are similarities between the two. In Bhopal, a gas leak from a chemical factory killed thousands while in Chernobyl, a nuclear reactor blast rendered the area uninhabitable for years, killing hundreds. Chernobyl, the HBO series recounting the horrors, has been praised worldwide. It is natural that The Railway Men will be compared to it. Not that it bothers the director though. Shiv Rawail says, “Chernobyl is a fantastic series. I loved it. But The Railway men isn’t that. There is a reason it’s not called Bhopal or Bhopal Gas Tragedy. It is called The Railway Men because it is about them. Chernobyl is an investigation of the disaster itself and the aftermath. While our series does not explore that. Even if there is a comparison, when people watch the show, they will realise there is nothing to compare. They are two very different perspectives on very different disasters.”
The Railway Men stars Kay Kay Menon, R Madhavan, Divyenndu, and Babil Khan, supported by a big ensemble cast. The four-part limited series begins streaming on Netflix from November 18.
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 "A still from The Railway Men")
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