Movie Review: Rocketry: The Nambi Effect The ordeal of ISRO’s brilliant scientist Nambi Narayanan

R Madhavan’s film “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect” is based on the true story of the life of brilliant ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, which R Madhavan has brought to life in this film with his acting on screen. Madhavan has brought the character to life, this will be the best film of his life. Along with acting, for the first time in this film, R Madhavan has simultaneously played diverse roles like writing, directing and producing. Apart from this, Shahrukh Khan is present in this film as the narrator from the beginning till the end and is seen leaving his impact in the cameo also.

After that, Simran has played a brilliant role as Nambi Narayanan’s wife (Meena) and in the film, Nambi supports Narayanan in all his sorrows and joys and due to the insult and injustice done to Nambi Narayanan, her mental condition deteriorates. All those complex roles have been presented very poignantly, seeing which we become stunned and speechless. Apart from this, Sam Mohan as Unni, Rajit Kapoor as Sarabhai, Gulshan Grover as Kalam have all done justice to their characters. There would be no harm in saying that all the characters in the film have given their best.

Talking about the story of the film Rocketry, the first half of the film shows the achievements of ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan and his contribution to space science. In which from working in ISRO to getting scholarship in Princeton University, scientists who thought that the country was above all, who rejected the job offer of a big institute like NASA and worked for the country by staying in ISRO, 400 pounds of space equipment was given to India for free. Lana, along with his 52 colleagues in France, learned the technology to make better rocket engines and brought cryogenic engine parts from Russia despite America’s opposition, etc.

In this, Sirsa Ray’s camera has been successful in showing the beauty of India, America, Russia, Scotland, France and the grandeur of the space engine, but in the first part, most of the shooting has taken place abroad, hence the conversations have been kept in English only, due to which the audience There may be some inconvenience and they may have to rely on subtitles and also the use of scientific and technical terminology makes this part more complex which may bore the audience. There was a need to provide Hindi subtitles in the film, which can be considered a shortcoming as the first part has been in English. Apart from this, everything else is quite good in it.

Well, if we talk about the second part of the film, this part is quite brilliant and tremendous. In which Nambi Narayanan is arrested on false charges of selling rocket science technology. From there the story is the story of their war and victory against injustice. There are many touching scenes in this part, in one of which, when Nambi Narayanan comes home after being released from jail, his wife’s mental condition has completely deteriorated and she does not talk to anyone and starts screaming on seeing Nambi Narayanan. She runs away in fear. One gets goosebumps just thinking about all this.

It is not only difficult but impossible to express this pain in words. In the second scene, when Nambi Narayanan is bringing his sick wife from the doctor’s office, it starts raining and no one gives them a lift and an auto driver stops and he pushes them and makes them fall down. It’s an absolutely heartbreaking part and you can’t help but cry in this scene. Their helplessness is clearly visible. You will be stunned to see such behavior of the society towards them.

Similarly, there are some scenes where you will be forced to think that this can happen in this country where such inhuman atrocities have happened to a great scientist. They are brutally beaten and the administration uses every trick in the book to make them confess to crimes they did not commit. Which raises many questions on the then Kerala government and police as to how by misusing power they made the life of a senior scientist and his family miserable, then you can imagine what would happen to a common man if power is in the wrong hands. There may be a condition.

However, his colleagues who worked with him also did not support him at all. Along with this, he had to face jail for 50 days and his family had to live with humiliation for many years. Finally, at a wedding ceremony he learns that the Supreme Court has acquitted him and he wins the battle of justice against injustice and thus the film ends.

Padma Bhushan awarded Nambi Narayanan was such a scientist of the country when all the scientists were working on solids, then Nambi Narayanan started working in liquid fuel rocketry for the country. Despite all the obstacles, he created a rocket engine due to which India was no longer dependent on other countries to launch its satellites. Nambi Narayanan develops a rocket to carry satellites into space, named VI AS. After its successful testing, Nambi adds K of his Guru’s name to its name which shows his reverence towards his Guru. The name of the rocket becomes – Vikas.

This Vikas rocket still carries satellites sent by ISRO into space. In this way, this film shows his fight against the injustice done to the great scientist of the country, how he fights this system alone and proves his innocence. All these poignant incidents have been presented with great simplicity in the film. Simran has created a distinct identity for herself in the role of his wife Meera. In the end, there is no doubt in saying that R Madhavan’s direction was tremendous. The dialogues of the film were powerful. The songs were also in line with the story. This film deserves to be seen once in the theater and I will give it 4 out of 5 marks.

prerna kumari

(The author is active in freelance writing)