MUMBAI : Yash Raj Films’ digital arm YRF Entertainment’s first-ever Netflix series, The Railway Men, was released on Saturday. Starring Kay Kay Menon, R Madhavan, Babil Khan, and Divyenndu in the lead roles, the series is based on the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy. 

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When YRF first offered Kay Kay Menon a role in the show, he didn’t trust the banner with handling the serious subject matter, given their history of making “good looking” films.

During a recent chat with Neelesh Misra posted on Netflix India’s YouTube channel, Menon revisited his first call with YRF for The Railway Men. 

He shared, “When I got a call from Yash Raj Films, I thought it would be one of those films which they usually do, which are good-looking. But then they told me it is about Bhopal Gas Tragedy. I was like, ‘Oh my god. This is messed up. This combination is messed up.'”

So, the actor started looking for excuses to reject the offer and told the person from YRF that his dates were unavailable for the project. However, the guy insisted on Menon reading the script and then deciding if he wanted to do it or not.

“I was amazed after reading the script. It was a fantastic, well-detailed script. But then I asked, “Are you really going to make this script?’ They said yes. So I told them I will meet the makers,” Menon recalled.

The actor then met the director of The Railway Men, Shiv Ravail, and tried to assess his skills. “I met Shiv and the team and the first question I asked was, ‘jo script mein likha hai vahi banaoge (Will you be able to do justice to the script)? Are you really going to follow the script or will you modify it later?'”

The director assured him that he would stick to the script, and Menon agreed to be a part of the show. He played the role of the station master of Bhopal Junction. Menon is pleased with his decision. 

“I am so glad that I said yes that day because Shiv Rawail and his whole team… The detailing, handling such huge crowds during Covid, it became so easy for us to be on that set,” he said.

The Railway Men dramatises the events around the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, a catastrophic event that resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 people and affected more than 600,000 others. 

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It features Madhavan as the Central Railways’ GM, who is determined not to abandon the people of Bhopal. Babil plays a railways worker, and Divyenndu plays a bandit with a heart of gold.

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Credits - The Indian Express