A Prayer for Rain (2014) on Netflix
Bhopal, 1984. Rickshaw driver Dilip loses his income when his vehicle breaks down and takes work at the Union Carbide plant beside his home. Reporter Motwani questions the chemicals used there.
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- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.1/102,281 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes71%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Bhopal, Dilip lives in the slum beside the Union Carbide pesticide plant with his wife Leela, their son and his sister, and drives a rickshaw for a living. When the rickshaw breaks down while he is taking an employee to the plant, his daily wage disappears, and he finds work as a laborer inside the factory instead. Falling pesticide sales shrink the plant's revenues, and its officials hold back on safety and maintenance to save money. Motwani, who runs a tabloid printing press, writes about the chemicals the plant uses, and most officials and workers disregard his reports. Roy, the plant safety officer, raises his own concerns, which the officials also ignore.
Cast
- Akhil Mishraas Napolean
Show all 14 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Prayer for Rain (2014)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Ravi Kumar wanted Anderson shown as the victim of an organisational error of judgement, but Martin Sheen insisted Anderson be depicted as guilty instead and rewrote some of the film's scenes himself.
- Bhopal-based journalist Rajkumar Keswani wanted to sue the film's producers for portraying him as a "salacious gossip columnist", but his lawyer advised him to watch the film first; he had seen the original script, in which Penn's character was named Keswani.
- The Bhopal Group for Information and Action and other activists tried to stop the film's screening, calling it an insult to the victims and accusing the filmmakers of distorting the facts, of diverting attention from Dow Chemical Company, which acquired Union Carbide in 2001, and of portraying Anderson as a man who wanted to help but could not.
- Sienna Miller was previously attached to the project but later dropped out, and her role was given to Mischa Barton.
- Hyderabad was chosen to stand in for Bhopal because it bore a great resemblance to the city in terms of its Mughal influence and architecture.
- The phrase A Prayer for Rain was added to the film's title because, had it rained on the night of 2-3 December 1984, fewer people would have died.
- Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan attended the film's premiere in Bhopal on the 30th anniversary of the gas disaster and, after watching it, announced that the state government would not charge any tax on the film's earnings.
- Inspired by the film, musician Sting collaborated with Anoushka Shankar to record a song, a partnership that was later confirmed by Kumar.
