Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is great debut attempt by R.Madhavan highlight the exceptional work done by former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan -- and a system that punished him.
The movie shows Nambi Narayanan as a relentless scientist who pursues his goal to develop liquid state fuel for rocket propulsion to advance ISRO's space mission. To achieve this goal, Nambi first enrolls at Princeton University to learn from a professor who ultimately agrees to help him with his thesis due to Nambi's sheer persistence. Later, Nambi travels to Scotland, France, and even Russia, to learn and test the efficacy of liquid state fuel using tricks and shrewd tactics.
However, relentless pursuit towards an end often makes people take unethical means - and Rocketry highlights the moral failings of Nambi Narayanan. It is shown when he refuses to divulge tragic news to his colleague as it might compromise the project. Did Nambi do it for the 'greater good' of the country or pursue his goal? Only Nambi could answer this question but the movie should be applauded for including such an incident instead of deifying characters.
Almost everything about the film is brilliant - from acting to cinematography to dialogues. Madhavan is brilliant as Nambi Narayanan with Simran playing as Nambi Narayanan's wife. Other stalwarts of ISRO make an appearance like Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan, and APJ Abdul Kalam while Sharukh Khan/ Suriya has a short but memorable appearance as themselves. The movie is shot across different countries and the visuals are stunning. It tries to re-create the 1970s/80s and the detailing is well-done. Finally, the dialogues are well-written and some moments make you chuckle.
Despite the effort, the movie fails on two accounts. First, is the usage of scientific jargon. One of the biggest challenges of creating a biopic about a scientist is maintaining a fine balance between using scientific concepts and losing rigor. The biopic errs on the side of the former. The whole movie discusses Nambi Narayanan's pursuit to develop liquid-fuel since it is better than solid fuel. Yet, the movie never explains why there was a need to create liquid fuel. Similarly, it talks about cryogenics, stability, and pressure without explaining what they mean in this context.
Second, the second half of the movie discusses the false charges Nambi Narayanan faces and how he overcomes them, albeit at a great cost. Yet, the charges of espionage are never truly explored. The audience is left with many questions such as: who was responsible for it? Why did they do it? Why hasn't anyone investigated it since?
In conclusion, Rocketry successfully launches the story of Nambi Narayanan but fails to land safely due to some shortcomings. There are two ways the movie could be interpreted: an eccentric scientist whose achievement should have been celebrated or highlighting the failures of our system that used the process as a punishment towards an honest man. The biopic successfully showed the former but fails to comment on the latter.
No comments:
Post a Comment