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Yatra Episode 1
The classic 1980s TV serial on Indian Railways by Shyam Benegal
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The DD Files: Shyam Benegal’s ‘Yatra’ packed all of India in a train.
Yatra:...
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The series that showcased the uniqueness of a train journey.
The 15-part series came to life thanks to the Indian Railways, which provided Benegal with a 10-bogey train for 50 days at the cost of Rs 30 lakhs.


Made on a grand scale, Yatra, which was directed by Shyam Benegal, featured slice-of-life stories of people on a train journey. The 15-part series, which was aired in 1986, featuring a talent-loaded star cast including Om Puri, Neena Gupta, Ila Arun, Mohan Gokhale and Harish Patel among others.
Yatra was more than just picture-perfect postcards from diverse parts of India. It gave importance to relationships — between lovers, parents and children, siblings, mentors and even strangers, their victories and failures. With a robbery, a recovery, a fatal accident, a suicide attempt, sexual harassment and more, the series encapsulated all that life has to offer, good or bad.

An army man headed back to Jammu after his vacation in Trivandrum with a disgruntled wife, parents who have just cremated their daughter where the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal meet, a theatre actor in pursuit of reaching his troupe in Delhi on time and an ailing sadhu with his protege who is determined to reach the Himalayas — all are brought together on the first episode of the show, written by Shama Zaidi and Sunil Shanbag. The travellers meet on the Himsagar Express — the longest-running train at that time, from Kanyakumari to Jammu Tawi.

As the series progresses, little slices of the lives of the travellers emerge, enveloping the viewer, and each other, in their stories. Om Puri’s character (the jawan) succinctly summarises the show in just one line, “On a train, your destination is all important. In life, it is all about the journey.”

Shyam Benegal’s genius and the generosity of the Indian Railways
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Funded by the Indian Railways, which also provided Benegal with a 10-bogey train for 50 days at the cost of Rs 30 lakhs, the show was predictably involved in controversy. The Minister of State for Railways at that time, Madhav Rao Scindia, was questioned for clearing the project “without seeking the prior consent of the financial commissioner in the Railway Board.”

Also, the fact that it was sponsored for Doordarshan by Bombay Dyeing, a company in which Scindia had a shareholding interest and whose then chairman, Nusli Wadia, he was friends with, added to the controversy.

But Benegal simply thought of it as “a great adventure. The railway department was very cooperative. They used to make way for our train at many stops.”

“I chose the two longest journeys one could take by train for the show. It was an extraordinary experience, as I had several talented actors and technicians working on the series. We had a train at our disposal. The show introduced different parts of India not only to the audience, but also to us,” he said.