EXCLUSIVE! Kay Kay Menon on Netflix’s The Railway Men: ‘Being a railway employee is a high-risk job’| Not Just Bollywood

The Railway Men brings out the contribution of the Indian Railways in saving the people during the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. The tragedy killed and injured thousands of people. The railway men saved thousands of lives at the risk of their own life. Not many are aware of their contribution. The four-part series is a tribute to the unsung heroes of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and a partnership project between Netflix and Yash Raj Films.

In an interview with Firstpost, actor Kay Kay Menon talks about how he wasn’t aware of the contributions of the Indian railways before doing the show.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Getting into the skin of the character, his duties, his routines and commitments and most importantly getting into the mode of responsibility towards a job as a railway master…What is the process that you adopted?

The process is very simple… I read the text thoroughly, actually a number of times to the extent that it gets boring for people watching me. And of course, I had innumerable discussions with the director and the writer. That’s how I get a hang of the person that I playing. From there on, I kind of trust my ability as an actor and go with the flow and see where it leads me.

Your debut was with the Bhopal Express and now we see you in The Railway Men on Netflix… how did your first experience as an actor help you in the present project?

Bhopal Express was the beginning, but Netflix’s The Railway Men is definitely not the end. But the difference here was when I did Bhopal Express, I was already exposed to what the tragedy was all about and at that point of time it was a sensitive issue and we couldn’t shoot in Bhopal, we had to shoot in Hyderabad. So, I knew about the tragedy, but what attracted me more to this story was the contribution of the railway men.

The bravery and the courage of the railway men are basically taken for granted in life. We don’t even realise their contribution. And also the fact that their duties is just not to help you reach your destination on time, but to reach you safely. It’s a high risk job which we take for granted.

Were you aware of the contributions of the Indian railways before doing the show?

Not at all. It’s like everybody is taking them for granted and sometimes cursing them for the train being late. Today it’s a different scenario. Now, after doing the show I understand what kind of high-risk job they go through on a daily basis even better.

The fact that it’s the largest organisation in our country with the largest number of employees with the largest network in the world, my respect for them has increased all the more.