Cristofle

I'd kill for a premiere!

history

I think out of all of Mischa's post-production films, I think this is the one I am most excited about.

Bhopal disaster movie slammed for letting a bad guy off the hook

Bhopal disaster movie slammed for letting a bad guy off the hook
Amrit Dhillon, Delhi
December 31, 2011

ACTIVISTS working with the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy - which still bears the ''world's worst industrial disaster'' tag despite the passage of 27 years - say a new film on the accident is an insult to the victims.

Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain, starring Martin Sheen and Mischa Barton, is the work of Indian director Ravi Kumar. Kumar says he wanted to depict what happened on the night of December 2-3, 1984, because the same set of circumstances is still at play in the world, making the story a universal one rather than purely Indian.

''The blueprint mechanism of all accidents is the same - lack of corporate governance, greed, cost-cutting. There may be another Bhopal brewing somewhere right now,'' he said.

Telling the story of the thousands who died in agony, and the thousands still suffering from congested lungs, cancers, and congenital defects caused by the toxic gas that leaked from the Union Carbide factory, has been a ''life-changing'' experience for Kumar.

He was struck by the fact that while books and documentaries have been made about Bhopal, no one had attempted a feature film, even though so many survivors are around to tell the tale.

More than 3000 people died after gas leaked from a storage tank at the factory which made pesticide. Thousands more died later from the after-effects. Around 19,000 people still suffer chronic ailments from having inhaled the deadly methyl isocyanate. And babies in Bhopal are still being born with severe abnormalities because their mothers, children at the time, breathed in the chemical.

The film is due to be released next year, but Rachna Dhingra of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal says her group and others plan to stop its screening.

''I've seen the script and it's an insult because it blames Union Carbide India for the gas leak while letting the parent company in the US off the hook, and it shows Warren Anderson [chief executive at the time, played by Sheen] like some saintly guy who wanted to help but wasn't able to,'' she said.

Ms Dhingra said she had expressed her misgivings to Sheen, who initially had been supportive, but both Sheen and Kumar had later stopped communicating with her.

For the groups working with the victims in Bhopal, Anderson, 89, is a demon. They regularly burn his effigy and bay for his blood. Anderson looks set to go to his grave without ever having talked about the tragedy; he has refused all interview requests.

The horrific death toll was partly the result of a wind that night which spread the fumes further than they would otherwise have gone. The title A Prayer for Rain refers to the fact that if there had been rain that night, far fewer would have died.

Kumar is undisturbed by the protests. It is obvious, he says, that Anderson must shoulder the responsibility for the disaster, adding that Sheen rewrote some scenes to make it clear that Anderson was culpable.

''But making Anderson a James Bond-like villain would have been counter-productive, and may have made the film look like a Bollywood movie, which would have isolated non-Indian audiences, and this is very much an international film with universal relevance,'' he said.

Cristofle

I've seen a few early reviews that make it clear Sheen is NOT playing a good guy ...?

Sam_MC

Ravi Kumar just finished telling Times of India a few weeks ago that these activists are having a cry over a draft version of the script.

How can you possibly protest something you haven't seen?

Cristofle

Yeah, especially if Sheen has clarified they tweaked the character to make his culpability more obvious. It sounds like they DID address the concerns somewhat.

Sam_MC

Another news story has popped up with the same sentiment as the above:
A film about the Union Carbide industrial disaster in India is courting controversy - The National

Cristofle

They seem to be very picky about how this is portrayed. Which I understand- I can't even watch films about 9/11- but thy seem upset over an early draft.

Cablebot3000

So this is slightly older news, but according to wikipedia Ravi Kumar is anticipating a 2012 release, and it also says " As of December 2011, the film is with senior editors. Music composers in London and Los Angeles are also developing the score.". Not a quote but you get what i mean lol. So hopefully this mean we'll be hearing news on this pretty soon.

Cristofle

I'd love to at least see some footage, lol.

Sam_MC

I still can't believe there is no trailer.

This was my one hope! With Martin Sheen and Kal Penn, I was sure it would find its way to release pretty quickly. So very wrong.

Cablebot3000

I know! It doesn't seem possible. Lets just hope its doesn't turn into a 5 year thing like You and I did. It'll feel like a Miracle though if it's released this year. I'm sure Mischa probably feels worse than any of use that so many of her movies have had release problems.

Sam_MC

Hopefully this next batch of movies have more luck.

Cristofle

Yeah, Mischa has talked before about being disappointed some of her projects have had such extensive release problems. At the time she singled out AoaHSP, but I think this one probably disappoints her too- she really loved working with Martin Sheen.

Cablebot3000

I am actress, not an eye candy: Tannishtha Chatterjee

Read the last few bits! I hope she's right and it will be released this year. Funny she puts technical issues as the setback for being released, as in the past most articles have cited the controversy of the film being the main reason it hasn't been released.

Sam_MC

Cool. Hopefully it happens.