Hollywood plans to take Bhopal to the screen read a Indian Express headline much to the chagrin of some[ read the comments to the article]. It is commendable that the feature film will create awareness amongst a lot of people. I know friends who are completely unaware of Bhopal Gas Tragedy and the glamor quotient broght by Aishwarya Rai will draw these folks to the theatres. But, certain things need to be considered before going overboard with the launch of the film.
1. When it comes to translation to celluloid, the first casulaty would be the truth. In an effort to keep the cash regsiters ringing, the issues of the people of Bhopal shouldn't be misintreprted. For folks, who want to know about Bhopal and the reality at ground zero, do watch one of these moviesbefore watching the Rai starrer. It is like reading the Bible before watching The Passion of the Christ.
2. Also, the movie might never see the light od the day. Given Dow Chemical company's political mileage and money power, they will do everything in their power to sabotage the movie in the United States. But there are also other independent groups which will fund and distribute the movie if its good just like what happend with Farenheit -9/11.
Whatever may be the case - The Bhopalis need complete justice and a right to a dignified , disease free life. Lets hope we can work towards it.
1. When it comes to translation to celluloid, the first casulaty would be the truth. In an effort to keep the cash regsiters ringing, the issues of the people of Bhopal shouldn't be misintreprted. For folks, who want to know about Bhopal and the reality at ground zero, do watch one of these moviesbefore watching the Rai starrer. It is like reading the Bible before watching The Passion of the Christ.
2. Also, the movie might never see the light od the day. Given Dow Chemical company's political mileage and money power, they will do everything in their power to sabotage the movie in the United States. But there are also other independent groups which will fund and distribute the movie if its good just like what happend with Farenheit -9/11.
Whatever may be the case - The Bhopalis need complete justice and a right to a dignified , disease free life. Lets hope we can work towards it.
There will be some mileage if at all the movie gets released. But then no one needs the mileage now. Its old news for those looking for new "causes" to hoist flags and what not. A few articles I read about the Bhopal gas tragedy and the fact that USD 360 million of the payout is still undisbursed means that even the Indian government has not heard the call of the 500,000 odd people affected by the tragedy in some form or other. And for trivia sake, the victims, if they are able to categorically prove they have indeed been affected by the leak are paid all of USD 500. I guess the Indian govt and Dow Chemical's rationale is that you can get you life renewed for that price.
Posted by
The Last Blogger |
12:11 PM
The Bhopal tragedy extends far more than money. It is really about corporate accountability. They cannot treat people of developing countries like a piece of shit.
470 Million Compensation for a tragedy that killed 15,000 people and left more than 150,000 suffering. You got to be kidding? If the same thing had happend in their plant in West Virginia, the company would have shelled out in billions. This is the price of Indian lives for these Multinational Czars. The long term effects of exposure weren't even taken care during the time of this settlement.
Also, the company in question doesn't want to release information about the kind of treatement involved if someone is exposed to the gas. Doctors are still searching for the right cure for the people exposed by the gas.
Last but not the least, the Government of India sucks up to foreign investment and betrays its own people. Wasn't this form of the Government called "for,by and of" the people? How ironical :-)
Posted by
Sudarshan |
12:30 PM
Stats that I read elsewhere:
**
9-11
Expected payout: $4 - $5 billion
number of victims: 2,752
price per victim at $4.5 billion payout: $16,351,744
Bhopal:
Expected payout: $470 mliion
number of Bhopal victims: 20,000
price per victim: $23,500
value of 9-11 victim to Bhopal victim:
695.82
**
Two very different incidents and two different times. Yet, there's something to learn.
"...fund and distribute the movie if its good just like what happend with Farenheit -9/11"or probably go the BitTorrent way (that Moore opted). Idea is to spread the mesg.
Posted by
pradeep |
8:50 PM
Sudharshan,
I did a quick check to on their UCC's website on http://www.bhopal.com/.
Surely UCC must have paid huge amount of bribe to the politicians to get away with such a thing. To think of it, even an incident much minor(20 times) than bhopal one would have made the company declare bankruptcy in US.
That politician is more punishable than anybody else!
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:11 PM
Both parties are equally resposible and the company in question has a track record of doing it more than once. For them its it clear a case of "been there, done that". Even if you argue everywhere politicians are corrupt, you cannot let the person from the other end go scot free. Why do you think Indian Govt. settled for something very less? One of the major reasons is pressure from these multinational corporations. Globalization has had its plusses and minuses in India. The Bhopal incident is a huge minus. Globalization at the cost of environment, lives and livelihoods
Also bhopal.com is a website that tells their side of the story. To check out the victims side of story, check out www.bhopal.net and also to learn more about the company in question, check out
http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/DirtyDow.htm
Posted by
Sudarshan |
11:37 PM
So Anonymous is who???
Posted by
Sudarshan |
11:42 PM
Price of our Lives
Check this.. Not recommended for pregnant women.
Posted by
Sudarshan |
1:52 PM