Yash Raj Films is venturing into the booming digital content (over-the-top or OTT) landscape of India. YRF’s streaming content production business will be called YRF Entertainment and it will churn out five marquee projects to begin within its first year. The first big project to hit the floors from the banner is titled The Railway Men – a tribute to the railway workers at Bhopal station who are the unsung heroes of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the world’s biggest man-made industrial disaster. YRF announced this project on the same day to salute the heroes of Bhopal who saved thousands of lives when the crisis hit the city 37 years back. The Railway Men is being directed by debutant Shiv Rawail, who has been homegrown at YRF and is being mentored by Aditya Chopra.
Shiv will start the proceedings at YRF Entertainment with his content-forward one-season limited series about the resilience of human spirit in the face of a disaster. The Railway Men will feature four brilliant actors like R. Madhavan, Kay Kay Menon, Divyenndu Sharma and Babil Khan. These four actors helm the show and the company will also announce the presence of several other powerful performers in due course of time. The Railway Men started filming from December 1st, yesterday.
Akshaye Widhani, Senior Vice President of Yash Raj Films, says, “The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is the world’s worst industrial disaster that has impacted scores of people since the tragedy struck the city 37 years ago. At YRF, we are constantly trying to develop the best compelling stories for the audience and this is our tribute to the unsung heroes of the tragedy who, despite saving thousands of lives on that fateful day, are still unknown to people across the world.”
Yogendra Mogre, Executive Producer at YRF Entertainment, adds, “The Railway Men is our salute to their spirit, their courage, and their humanity. This is a story that needed to be told. We are not going to leave any stone unturned to ensure that this story reaches out to audiences, across the world, in the best possible way so that they can understand the depth of devastation that this tragedy has caused in India.”
In the late hours of December 2, 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide factory owned by the American Union Carbide Corporation. It has been reported that more than half a million people were poisoned that night and the official death toll exceeded 5,000.
Thousands of survivors have said they, their children and grandchildren are struggling with chronic health problems like cancer, blindness, respiratory, immune and neurological problems as a result of the leak.
YRF Entertainment’s The Railway Men will stream on December 2, 2022, as a homage to humanity and colossal sacrifice in the wake of a crisis that shook the nation.