Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain (2014)

Original title

A Prayer for Rain

Directed by

Ravi Kumar

Genre

drama film, disaster film

Country

India, United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 36m

Rating

6.3 of 10 from 30 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

The story is about the lead-up to the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and its immediate aftermath. It follows several people including a factory manager, a journalist, and local residents in the days before the disaster.

tensesomberheavysuspensefultragicslow-burnharrowingemotional

What happens

Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain is a 2014 Indian English-language historical drama film directed by Ravi Kumar. Based on the Bhopal disaster that happened in India on 2–3 December 1984, the film stars Martin Sheen, Mischa Barton, Kal Penn, Rajpal Yadav, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Fagun Thakrar. Benjamin Wallfisch composed the film's music. Kumar's idea for making a film based on the Bhopal disaster came after he read Sanjoy Hazarika's book: "Bhopal: Lessons of a Gas Tragedy" about it. Shot over a period of 18 months, it was originally scheduled for a late 2010 release. However, the lack of responses from distributors kept delaying the release. In April 2013, a new trailer was released and the film received a market screening at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on 16 and 19 May. It was also screened at Pan Asia, Dingle and the Tokyo International film festivals. Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain was released in the United States on 7 November 2014 and in India on 5 December 2014. A private screening of the film was held at the youth assembly in the United Nations on 7 August 2014. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the actors' portrayal of their respective characters but found the film underwhelming. A few organisations fighting for the rights of the victims of the tragedy blamed the film for presenting the facts in a distorted manner. Kumar and Sheen denied these allegations. The Madhya Pradesh government exempted the film from paying tax. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Bhopal Express (1999)
• Baghjan (2024)
• Fireman (2015)
• @Andheri (2014)
• Kaliyugam (2025 film)
• Aval Oru Sindhu (1989)
• Mudra (1989)
• Idavelakku Sesham (1984)