Bhopal: With the release of much awaited web series 'The Railway Men' claimed to be based on the heroic efforts of the Railway officials during the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the son of the unsung hero of the tragedy who has sued production house Yash Raj Films for ignoring the efforts of his father, has asked a revisit to the series. In a special conversation with ETV Bharat, Shadab Dastagir, son of Ghulam Dastagir, the then deputy station superintendent (DSS) at Bhopal Railway station during the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, asked the Yash Raj Films to revisit the web series in order to restore the due credit to his father.
The role of the railway officer played by KK Menon in the web series is believed to be based on Ghulam Dastagir, who was then posted at Bhopal railway station. Dastagir had saved hundreds of lives during the intervening night of Dec 2 and 3 when Methyl Isocyanate was leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited (UICL) plant in Bhopal.
According to varying reports, around 2000-3000 people lost their lives in the chemical accident believed to be the world's worst industrial disaster. Shadab Dastagir, son of the unsung hero Ghulam Dastagir asked Yash Raj Films to “rectify the mistakes and correct the wrong information in the web series 'The Railway Men'.
“This web series should be released again after naming it after my father, the real hero of the disaster. This is not entertainment, it is the story of one person frozen in one night which will be seen and heard as an inspiration for generations,” he said. Shadab said that the “biggest regret is that a responsible production like Yash Raj banner did not consider it important to give credit and pay tribute to the the hero on whom you are taking commercial advantage by making a web series”.
“Wasn't it necessary for you to give him a tribute? Whenever the name of Bhopal gas tragedy comes up, the name of Ghulam Dastagir will come into mind. The sacrifices are being tarnished through this web series. You can't destroy the essence of someone's life in one night like this,” he said. Shadab also accused YRF of violating the copyright on the film.
“We had given the copyright to some other production house. When I saw the teaser, I came to know that our father's story was taken without our permission,” he said. While recalling his father's efforts during the 1984 gas tragedy, Shadab said that Gulam Dastagir had stopped Bhopal bound trains and flagged off the Mumbai Gorakhpur express train in a bid to prevent people from being exposed to the toxic gas and thus savedhundreds of lives.
