The Railway Men: Few Unread Pages From The Tragic History
Shiv Rawail directed Netflix series, The Railway Men – The Untold Story Of Bhopal 1984 is anchored around the relentless effort of few railway workers in tackling one of the most terrific man made disasters that stuck the country. The 4 – hour web series portrays one of the many layers of the chemical accident, the toxic gas leakage at the Union carbide plant, that took place in a December night in 1984. It is the first Netflix series under Yash Raj Film (YRF) banner.
The plot begins through a journalist’s lens on aftermath of Bhopal gas tragedy, where the foreign national to be held responsible for the incident was allowed to return safely to his homeland, with the ironic reference to Gandhian quotes and the worth of a common man in the country. The journalist Jagmohan Kumawat, played by Sunny Hinduja is introduced in the series as an investigative journalist who predicted the probability of a deadly chemical accident after gathering evidences against the unsafe operation of the pesticide plant.
The story then takes the viewers to series of events that happened hours before in the factory, railway station and the locality. Kay Kay Menon’s role as the station master Iftekar Siddiqui who is tormented by a nightmare which is rooted on his guilt feeling of unable to save a young boy from dying in a train accident. The station master, has all the traits of a righteous super hero, strongly upholding the morality expected of heroes of his kind. The series has extensive casting ranging from Babil khan as Imad an ex-employee of Union Carbide plant and who is a young man passionate about his village and people, R. Madhavan as Rati Pandey, a committed General Manager of Central Railways who is under the red radar of officials, especially Rajeshwari Janglay, character donned by Juhi Chawla, a higher official at Railway ministry. Dibhyendhu Bhattacharyas transformation as Kamaruddhin, a supervisor at Union Carbide plant is excellent. Divyendu Sharma as ‘the Express Bandit’ and Mandira Bedi as the Sardhar lady are others who handled significant roles.
Though the series takes the viewers to taste the terrific scenario of pre and post events of the gas tragedy, the script and direction fails to give completeness to certain characters. For instance, the investigative journalism initially sets the tone in a thrilling mode, which eventually diminishes in its intensity as the story progress. Mandira Bedi’s role, that depicted the riots against the Sikhs, did not knit well with the disaster scenario. When it come to the group of girls and the coach, there was some gaps that needed to be scaffolded in the script and direction with respect to the character construct of the main member of the group. In addition to these depictions, the role of Philip Rosch (Madeson), the demon and Connor Keene (Alex Braun), the savior who could not accomplish his mission was significant in the evolution of the series.
The series end with the real reels from the tragic incident, that reveals the deadly depth of the impact to the viewers, creating a terrific impact on every viewer. The web series is a typical attempt to visually present the unknown dimension of the tragedy and the heroic involvement of many railway employees in the rescue mission. But there is a mild tint of dissatisfaction that creeps and remains hidden under the horror-struck scenes from the accident, that demands fine tuning of certain characters and their contribution to the progression of the plot. Otherwise it is a highly recommended series that should ‘not’ be kept in the watch later list.
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