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Kal Penn Gets Historical In \'Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain\'

Kal Penn has proven himself to be an unpredictable actor. He broke through in Hollywood playing the stoner Kumar in

. Whatever he\'s cast as, he always delivers - something that\'s even more significant with his current project, the film

We spoke with Kal on Friday to discuss making the film, what he\'s proudest of about his performance, and if it\'s important to him that his projects have something to say.

, a historical drama based on the real-life Bhopal gas leak tragedy that struck India in 1984. It\'s obviously a very serious and sensitive subject, so we asked him what his initial thoughts were on bringing it to the screen. "My first reaction, before I read the script, I was a little apprehensive," he told us, "because I know a lot of times movies like this take a very particular slant or they\'re overly through the lens of one particular character.

"I read the script and was impressed by how complex it was," Kal continued. "All these things created this perfect storm of a disaster."

For those unaware, the Bhopal gas leak is considered the world\'s worst industrial disaster. At a pesticide plant in Bhopal, more than 500,000 people were exposed to a toxic substance known as methyl isocynate gas, which then spread into the surrounding towns. No one is entirely sure how many people died as a result, but estimates place the fatalities in the thousands, with a 2006 government affidavit adding more than 550,000 injuries on top of the deaths.

Did knowing he and his fellow castmates - including Martin Sheen and Mischa Barton - were portraying something based on actual history change the tone on set? "Yes and no," Kal said. "My character and the whole piece is a fictionalized adaptation, but at the same time, this is not an issue that\'s been resolved. This is a real town. It really hasn\'t been cleaned up yet."

The emotional weight of the material wasn\'t Kal\'s only challenge with

, either. "I actually didn\'t know that most of my lines wouldn\'t be in English until I got to India to shoot the film," he laughed. "And so we began this really quick, aggressive [training] - hired a dialect coach and linguist to teach me the lines in Hindi. And you have to learn the language from a very specific place, a very specific time period."

Related: Bhopal, Kal Penn, Interviews, Television, Movies, Drama, CBS

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