ISRO veteran Nambi Narayanan's tears, ordeal made me do his biopic Rocketry, reveals R. Madhavan

A small clip from a Television news interview is what drove R.Madhavan to take on the most challenging venture in his film career - to script, direct, produce and play the titular role in 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect'. Releasing worldwide on July 1in six languages, 'Rocketry' is the biopic of Indian Aerospace Scientist S. Nambi Narayanan, who led the Indian team of scientists in developing a sophisticated liquid-fuelled rocket engine, dubbed the 'Vikas Engine'. Notably, this engine is the mainstay of all operational Indian rockets, to date.

In a newly released video, Madhavan and the film's creative team, producers recall how they had first heard of the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan, the inception of the film and also share glimpses into its making. "I remember that moment very clearly in my life, I was lying down in my couch looking at Youtube... there was a Malayalam Interview... During that Interview, I saw Mr. Nambi Narayanan's face and he had tears in his eyes... It was a defining moment which made me decide that I have to do this film" he says.

Referring to how they began work on the film, Madhavan says that he and his creative team initially focussed on the ISRO Spy case (of which Narayanan was falsely accused), the way he was tortured in prison, the involvement of Maldivian women, the accusation and what was hollow and wrong about it etc.

Later, Madhavan goes on to add that he had to delete the script that he and his team had researched and worked on for seven months, as they had completely skipped several crucial parts of Nambi's life, the phase when he studied at Princeton, USA among others. Based on his script review with Nambi, Madhavan recalls how he delved deep into the former's working relationship with Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India's Space Programme and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a veteran aerospace scientist who went on to become the Indian President.

After having trashed the initial script that he and team had worked on for seven months, Madhavan adds that it took twice as long to get the final script ready. "It took me another one-and-a-half year to put the whole script together about this really incredible man, his unbelievable and fantastic journey about Padma Bhushan Nambi Narayanan", the actor recalls.

'Rocketry' is widely regarded as a special film and a breakthrough, as science-based biopics are a rarity in Indian cinema. Notably, this would also be the first film that is exclusively made based on the life of an Indian space scientist. The trailer of the film indicates that it captures the highs and lows of Narayanan’s career and his contributions to the country’s space programme and how the fabricated ‘ISRO spy case’ had an adverse, irreversible impact on Nambi's life, career, reputation and India's space programme.

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