Babil Khan made his film debut last year with Netflix’s critically-acclaimed title Qala. Now, the actor is set to make his web series debut with The Railway Men, a Yash Raj Films limited series inspired by true stories from the Bhopal gas tragedy. In an exclusive interaction with DNA, the actor opens up about working with stalwarts like Kay Kay Menon and R Madhavan and how not being ‘trained’ helped him prepare for his role.
In The Railway Men, Babil plays a young railway employee who helps save countless lives in the aftermath of the gas leak in Bhopal. Partly based on real stories, the four part series tracks Indian Railway employees’ efforts to save lives. Talking about staying in the present while recreating the horrors caused by the leak, Babil says, “Not being trained as an actor has helped me in this area. I didn’t have a structure to fall back on. I don’t have anything stopping my impulse from feeling. Then, to be in an environment where I am surrounded by actors that are making things so believable and a production and direction team that had made everything so real, I didn’t have anything stopping me from really feeling that moment.”
The series does not focus on the gas leak and the Union Carbide factory only. The crux of the story is a tale of hope where the heroes are common men. Babil had to adopt a very Bhopali lingo and body language for the role, something that required extensive training. He recounts, “I was workshopped or the dialect, the character, the scenes, and everything. The training that Yash Raj and Shiv backed me with helped. Because after this when I arrived on set with all this workshop and saw the environment on the set that was so believable, I just had to let go. The ability to do that has a lot do with me being raised far away from structure and city.”
His co-stars in the series are Kay Kay Menon, R Madhavan, and Divyenndu, all accomplished actors. Talking about working with them and sharing screen space with some of them, the young actor says, “This is the best education I could have had, watching them, learning from them. I was just trying to be there and absorb everything I could. It is such a great opportunity.”
Directed by Shiv Rawail, The Railway Men begins streaming on Netflix on September 18.
