The web series on the Bhopal gas tragedy is powerful but incomplete

I Not an ideal reviewer as I am very close to Bhopal. I have seen all the documentaries and most of the photos taken. I was standing next to the photographer when they took some of the pictures used in the series.

I was excited when I heard that there was going to be a series about Bhopal on Netflix and I watched The Railway Men with anticipation because my favorite actor’s son had a central role and I wanted it to succeed. Babil as Imad Riaz is excellent. He spoke about A Teet Bhopal dialect and acted really well.

I wish the writers would focus more on some of the individuals and their lives, show more of the essence of the city I know so well.

There were some very powerful moments in the series that brought me to tears, especially when Babil talked about his friend, who was based on Ashraf Khan, the real-life worker killed in 1981. Babil was his best friend and I knew their family. A true Babel whose name was Chand Mia.

When I saw a disabled boy, I was not surprised because this is the reality of Bhopal and people are living with it, still suffering from sickness and disease due to gas, still poisoned by water that has become toxic due to Union Carbide’s negligence.

The point is that The Railway Men inspired a new generation, but unfortunately it also exposed those who seek narrow political points, discount the tragedy of a thousand crimes, and count Anderson’s flight from India. .

This is partly a result of the series’ narrow focus, with the narrative limited to, save for one scene, a few days in 1984. Since then, there have been 14,000 days of neglect, injustice and suffering, and some viewers may be mistaken. Thinks that the worst industrial disaster in history is just history. Bhopal has a beginning but no end.

I appreciate watching Menon work and Juhi Chawla was great as ever. I felt that some of the subplots were unnecessary and took away from the main story.

The producer decided not to contact the survivor organizations or the families of the brave people who inspired the story. It’s a shame, because they would know that the incredible courage they celebrate in a few hours has reverberated throughout the city every day for four decades, in the simple act of surviving in impossible personal circumstances and caring for others in pain. , which has been abandoned by all those who have a duty of care.