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My first memory of the Bhopal tragedy is a photograph by Pablo Barathlemow of a baby covered in rubble. This world press photo-winning image captured the worst industrial disaster that unfolded in the heart of India. 38 years later, it still reappears as a beacon to remind us of the cost of reckless industrialisation.
But there are still a lot of untold stories that circle the tragedy that took place on one cold December night in Bhopal. A disaster many saw coming and did little to prevent. A disaster that choked an entire city and tested the steel of human companionship, camaraderie and resilience.
The new Netflix series directed by Shiv Rawail named The Railway Men - The Untold Story Of Bhopal 1984 explored the many dimensions of the Bhopal gas tragedy through the eyes of unsung heroes. The star-packed show which had all the ingredients to be a good survival thriller sadly turned into a painfully slow Yash Raj Films (YRF) soap opera (their first production for a streaming platform) that needlessly dwelled in many dramas of the characters while missing some important ones.
The series starts by juxtaposing real visuals with created ones to set a docufiction mood and reiterates that “it is based on real events” as they move further and further from reality.
The series sets the tone and context very early on. The false alarm scene in the factory gave a picture of infrastructure and safety negligence, of untrained and clueless employees and the stereotypical white villain (whose caricature expressions screamed genocide).
The element of money and greed was also well established. From the American investors to the bandit that set foot to steal the treasury of Bhopal railway station (and repeatedly tried to do so) and the mom who desperately clenches currency notes as she faints while running to save her daughter’s marriage, money was a major motif in the narration.
The series format of the show was a boon for the scriptwriters as it allows them to explore characters in depth and build tension slowly and steadily. But here, what seemed to set the context, got lost in multiple character arcs and unnecessary storylines which turned The Railway Men into a YRF drama (the ones that thrive on high use of glycerine, separate intros to every character, misplaced suspense music and slow motion).
From the fallen-out relationship between the general manager of Central Railways (played by R Madhavan) and the chief of personnel (depicted by Juhi Chawla) to the heroic attempts of a ticket collector (Raghubir Yadav) to save a Sikh lady (Mandira Bedi) from the hands of the upper-caste Hindus (which they dutifully announced by shouting each other’s name), the scriptwriters overused their freedom to write and build depth in their characters and lost emotional grip of the series.
The scene of an intense drama of a rescue operation getting abruptly cut to a silly phone call that discusses a broken relationship perfectly underlines The Railway Men’s issues.
Coming to the performances, the role of Kay Kay Menon as the veteran station master and Dibyendu Bhattacharya’s plant manager Kamaruddin was emotional and mature. Babil Khan’s blend of innocence, commitment and curiosity as the young apprentice Imad was also refreshing to see on the screen.
However, the YRF production failed to add much value to the subject at hand. The editing felt stretched and disoriented. The glossy sets, the face lighting and the tasteless VFX looked artificial and out of place.
The series also managed to limit the blame to cruel firangis, lazy bureaucrats and ever-existing corruption in the system and fails to ask some important questions. Questions like, who were the majority that got trapped in Bhopal? How did the state government respond to the crisis? What happened to the central government that broke the rules to sanction the plant in the heart of Bhopal?
The series constantly tracked back to a choking dulha in bright red clothes in the middle of a slum settlement for maximum visual impact but failed to establish the fact that the high-level government officials and ministers were already well-informed and out of the gas chamber while the marginalised choked on the poison gas.
It also failed to give a clear picture of how hospital operations came to a standstill, how people in the ground dashed in every direction and migrated up to Nagpur, a city 400 kilometres away or how the government caved to Union Carbide and announced to restart the factory as “the most practical and safe option” just 10 days after the biggest industrial tragedy in the history of the country.
Instead, Shiv Rawail and YRF were too busy giving a heartfelt redemption to a schoolgirl who gets bullied for reaching second in a race.
The series conveniently caps the responsibility of the PM’s secretary without involving any government in taking accountability and without answering any questions it so ferociously asked in the beginning.
The Railway Men had all the potential to be a gripping tale of unlikely characters coming together in a night of terror to rescue their fellow people while fighting for their own lives. It had the power to be a good survival drama while asking the right questions and hitting the right notes.
But at the end of what looked like a 2.30-hour movie stretched into a four-hour series, the show only left me with one thought: If the city I live in chokes one day, will anybody be there to save us? Will anybody take accountability or will it turn into a sappy soap opera after 30 years? Living in Delhi, the question seems more relevant than the show.