Sanchita
R Madhavan powers on with zeal and conviction in Rocket Scientist Nambi Narayanan’s biopic. Tech-heavy in the 1st half, balanced by the emotion and drama in the latter half.
Read Full Rocketry: The Nambi Effect Movie Review:
Director: R Madhavan
Cast: R Madhavan, Simran, Shah Rukh Khan, Sam Mohan
Rating: 3.5/ 5
Runtime: 2 hours and 37 minutes
R Madhavan has gone all-in for Rocketry – having written, directed and co-produced the film. One can truly see his passion etched in the project. For the unversed, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is based on the life of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) scientist Nambi Narayanan.
The movie brings to life Narayanan’s incredible landmark achievements as an aerospace engineer. And it sheds light on the ugly, shocking, FALSE ISRO spy case that implicated him, tragically derailing his brilliant career. With Narayanan out of the scene and the ISRO demotivated, the spy case ended up impeding the advances in India’s space programme by almost 10-15 years!
Storyline:
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect takes the flashback route – as Nambi Narayanan (R Madhavan) narrates his life story to host/superstar Shah Rukh Khan in an interview.
R Madhavan beautifully embodies Nambi’s prodigy, quirks, passion and dedication. The 1st half revolves around the genius’ initial journey from getting a Princeton scholarship to rejecting an extremely lucrative NASA offer.
Ever the cost-effective problem-fixer, Narayanan stays back in ISRO, striving to help India make strides in her space research. Learning trade secrets from France and doing it better than them, putting his life in danger from Americans… Narayanan is perseverant in his mission, no matter the cost.
The 2nd half then delves into the ISRO spy case and the trauma and havoc it caused in Narayanan and his family’s life. He was falsely accused of being honey-trapped by the Maldivian woman Mariam Rasheeda into selling India’s classified space research secrets to foreign countries.
What Do We Think:
R Madhavan hasn’t shied away from using technical jargon – so the 1st half can feel a little dense and some of the sciency stuff is bound to fly over your head. It is LITERALLY Rocket Science after all.
But while the 1st half is all about science, 2nd half is all about emotion. The shocking indignity that Nambi Narayanan was subjected to, is sure to make your blood boil.
Madhavan is in top form and does full justice to the role. It’s clear he put in a lot of effort in portraying Narayanan. For the unversed, the actor actually broke his jaw to look like Nambi Sir! Simran, who plays Narayanan’s wife gives a haunting performance in the 2nd half.
Special shoutout to Sam Mohan as the earnest co-worker Unni. He shares one particularly emotionally brutal scene with R Madhavan… that establishes Nambi Sir as an unflinching, nation-first patriot in the truest sense.
Shah Rukh Khan is endearing in his cameo.
Hit Or Miss:
It’s a shocking story about one of India’s finest minds that needs to be seen, so that history doesn’t get repeated. Must-watch and support in theatres!
