Rocketry: The Nambi Effect – 2022 Biopic Drama

Movie Name: Rocketry: The Nambi Effect Movie
Directed by: Madhavan
Produced by: Sarita Madhavan, Madhavan, Varghese Moolan, Vijay Moolan
Starring: Madhavan, Simran Bagga, Rajit Kapur, Ravi Raghavendra, Muralidaran, Misha Ghoshal, Karthik Kumar, Dinesh Prabhakar, Mohan Raman, Ron Donachie
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller
Release Date: 01 July, 2022
Running Time: 157 Minutes
Rating:

Based by the life of ISRO Scientist Nambi Narayanan who was falsely accused of being a spy and arrested in 1994. Though free, he is still fighting for justice, with those police officials alleged to have falsely implicated him, still free.

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is an upcoming Indian biographical drama film based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organisation who was accused of espionage. The film is written, produced and directed by Madhavan in his directorial debut, who also stars in the lead along with Simran Bagga.

The film was shot simultaneously in Hindi, Tamil and English, and will also be released simultaneously in the dubbed Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. The story spans across Narayanan’s days as a graduate student at Princeton University, before exploring his work as a scientist and the false espionage charges placed upon him. Having begun pre-production works in early 2017, the theatrical trailer of the film was launched in April 2021 across six languages.

Work on the project was first reported by Madhavan in the media during April 2017, when he announced that he was set to appear in a biopic featuring the “extraordinary story of an unsung hero”, who was “neither an actor nor a sportsman”. He called the project his “biggest film ever” and stated that he had worked silently on the script of the film for a period of two years after becoming intrigued by hearing the tale of the former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan’s false espionage charge. To develop the script and to provide a more factual account of the events, Madhavan regularly met with Narayanan, garnering his approval for the film and discussing the scientist’s life experiences. As a result of their conversations, Madhavan chose to alter his original script to include portions from Narayanan’s entire career and his services to the Indian space programme, rather than just matters related to his 1994 arrest. For the script, he also took inspiration from Narayanan’s autobiography Ormakalude Bhramanapadham (2017) and Arun Ram’s official biography of the scientist titled Ready To Fire: How India and I Survived the ISRO Spy Case (2018).

In October 2017, Madhavan confirmed that pre-production work for the film was underway and that he would portray Narayanan from the ages of 27 to 75, and that he was gaining weight to film the scenes featuring the older version of Narayanan first, after taking advice from Aamir Khan. Madhavan also announced that alongside his screenwriting and acting credits, he would also be one of the producers of the project.

In late 2017, Madhavan held discussions with the likes of S. S. Rajamouli to be the film’s director, before confirming Anant Mahadevan, who had previously directed Madhavan in the Hindi television serial Ghar Jamai (1997) and the romantic drama film, Dil Vil Pyar Vyar (2002). In regard to making of the film, Anant Mahadevan stated that he hoped to differ in the script in comparison to other biographical films, and suggested that he would not call the film a “biopic” but an “incisive investigation into a brilliant mind and India’s ambitious space technology”. He also added that he felt that Madhavan was the “only Indian actor qualified to do this part” owing to his background as an electronic engineer with air-force training, and because he was “a thinking-actor who is also well-read”. Madhavan was later announced as a joint director of the film.

Tricolour Films announced the title of the film Rocketry: The Nambi Effect and unveiled a minute-long teaser for the film on October 31, 2018 to mark the start of production. A launch event also coincided with the teaser release, with Nambi Narayanan himself in attendance. A theatrical trailer of the film was released online in six languages on April 1, 2021. Madhavan recalled a conversation that he had with Nambi Narayanan to explain the trailer’s release coinciding with April Fools’ Day, where the scientist had described himself as a “fool” who had been the “victim of his own patriotism”. Madhavan stated he hoped to dedicate the trailer to these ‘fools’ who are “incredible unsung heroes and make this world a better place”. It received positive responses, with Manoj Kumar of The Indian Express and a reviewer from The News Minute both calling the trailer “riveting”. A number of film personalities including Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Suriya, Hrithik Roshan and Samantha Akkineni shared and praised the trailer.

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect – Movie Trailer

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect – Movie Review

R Madhavan wins with the story of an underdog, Shah Rukh Khan’s cameo is endearing

Pick the life story of a popular, celebrated personality, make a biopic on them and you know audiences would get drawn to the theatres. But when you choose to tell a tale of an underdog and yet manage to hold everyone’s attention with your compelling storytelling and execution, that’s the actual win. R Madhavan’s Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, based on the life of space scientist Nambi Narayanan, is that story which surprisingly nobody thought of narrating on the big screen until now, but it has so much to say. Written and directed by Madhavan, the film stars him as Nambi Narayanan and this is one onscreen portrayal, after a long time, that makes you notice the heart, soul and sweat that has gone into making it as real as possible.

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect begins with a wide shot of the outer space and landing into Nambi Narayanan’s house in Trivandrum where we are introduced to his family. While everyone is having a good laugh over lunch, their world comes crumbling down after Nambi gets arrested on espionage charges. A few scenes where Nambi’s wife gets humiliated at a wedding she was attending, his daughter sits helpless in the middle of the road as someone throws dung in her face, his son gets beaten up and his son-in-law is attacked— are painful visuals to sit through. That’s when you know it’s not a man who was wronged, but an entire family that took the brunt. Cut to 19 years later, we are shown an elderly Nambi in conversation with actor Shah Rukh Khan (playing himself) taking us through his hardships through a series of flashback sequences.

Rocketry chronicles the journey of one of the most brilliant and skilled ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) scientist, who puts his nation and science before anything else, but is made to suffer on personal and professional level due some corrupt officials. As a young scientist, Nambi effortlessly manages to crack profitable deals outside his country that would help their department back home and India’s Mars Mission. Be it earning a scholarship at Princeton, making a ridiculous demand from the CEO of Rolls Royce, leading a teaming of 52 scientists to learn technical know-how from the French and accomplishing some impossible tasks, and lastly convincing Russians to sell their technology to India at an affordable price, Madhavan does all this and more with so much charm and conviction.

The first half of the film throws way too many technical and scientific jargons at you which are difficult to understand and that makes the film a tad too heavy. But Madhavan holds no qualms about the same as he clearly doesn’t compromise on the authenticity of his story. There are quite a few dialogues in English, French and even Russian, and many might find that a hinderance in the narrative, but they bring a lot of authenticity to the plot. There are some lighter moments, too, by means of Indian scientists having fun at the expense of people in different countries they visit. It’s the second half of the film that’s far more intense, gripping and intriguing. It shows how Nambi was tortured in the jail for a false confession that he sold secrets of rocket science to Pakistan. Here, I wish, the focus was a little more on telling us who wronged him and what was the agenda behind it, but somewhere that question remains unanswered till the very end.

R Madhavan is a one man army who puts up a spectacular, inspiring show.

That being said, throughout the film, you connect with Nambi’s story on a personal level — celebrate his highs, feel the pain of his lows and cheer loud each time you sense the patriotic flavour in his actions and words. It won’t be an exaggeration to call Madhavan a one-man army who puts together a spectacular show both in front of the camera and behind it, too. The research and homework that he has done behind putting together this biopic deserves an applause. He handles the subject with extreme honesty and deep understanding as a director, and portrays it with full dedication and earnestness as an actor. He has picked up nuances of Nambi to the T. His physical appearance adds to making it a believable character. Here, I’d like to mention the climax scene where Madhavan is talking to Khan and a close-up shot of his face transitions to real Nambi Narayanan. Not even for a split second you feel that’s a different person. That’s how real Madhavan looked on the screen.

In supporting cast, actor Simran as Nambi’s wife Meena makes an impact with whatever few scenes we see her in. Then Karthik Kumar as the CBI investigating officer PM Nayar, Sam Mohan as Unni, Rajeev Ravindranathan as Param, Bhawsheel as Sartaj among others add depth to the storyline.

And having Shah Rukh Khan as the interviewer unfolding chapters from Nambi’s life remains the highlight of the film. The way he emotes and gets totally involved in Nambi’s story during the interview doesn’t look like a scene from a film. And full credit to Madhavan here for picking such an inspiring story and telling in an even moving way that it leaves even King Khan teary eyed towards the end.

At 157 minutes, the film definitely gets a bit lengthy and a sharper editing, especially in the first half, could have made it a tighter watch. Nevertheless, some stories need that time and depth to be told and with Rocketry, you really don’t complain.

Audiences might not categorise Rocketry: The Nambi Effect as a mass commercial potboiler and only fit for festivals, but it’s time you set yourself free from these expectations for this film is definitely worth all your time and money. It lets you know your country better and tells the untold story of people who gave up a lot in life only for their nation.