Rocket Boys is as much about scientific temper as it is about as it is about emotions and intrigue

Nonika Singh

Advertisement

Rocket Boys takes you into the world of Homi J Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, India’s two most celebrated scientists, one the father of India’s nuclear programme and the other of space research.

If your knowledge about them and of the time they belonged to is rather sketchy or just limited to their names, welcome Rocket Boys with open arms and an even more open mind. Not only because the series recreating an eventful period makes you wonder; is this for real?

Where fact and fiction meet in our celluloid reality is anybody’s guess? Did Bhabha enjoy such a close relationship with India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, whom he addressed as bhai.

Did Sarabhai actually lug his rocket on a bullock cart and did they manually adjust it before the launch of India’s first rocket at Thumba on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram… all this and many more queries nibble your mind. But as we cross-check, we learn much of what appears in the taut and intriguing series is factual. So you can only laud the writer and the director Abhay Pannu for weaving a plot, at once informative and riveting. What is truly satisfying is how in the story, edited well by Maahir Zaveri, the lives of these two scientists run parallel and intercut at several points.

The opening scene is set in 1962 when Homi J Bhabha, chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, proposes making of the bomb. Battle lines are drawn between him and Sarabhai, his close friend.

Here onwards the series goes back in time to their younger days, to the days at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, when they worked together as mentor and mentee. As we are transported to pre-Independence days, thanks to cinematographer Harshvir Oberai, art director Pradeep Nigam, the attention to detail and recreation of the ‘period look’ is to the point.

A Parsi man playing a Parsi, we get an authentic representation of the Parsi life sans caricaturisation of any kind. Saba Azad as Parvana Irani aka Pipsi adds to the lure of the series and the Parsi culture. While her part could be a flight of fancy, there are plenty of real-life characters. Right from political stalwarts like Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri to industrialist JRD Tata to scientists like CV Raman and APJ Abdul Kalam and Bharatnatyam dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai.

Thanks to an excellent cast they are fleshed out well and there is enough room for actors to flex their acting muscles. Rajit Kapoor, as Nehru, Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Raza Mehdi, Arjun Radhakrishnan as Kalam and Regina as Mrinalni strike home.

The series belongs to Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh. Both play to the strengths of their characters and their own. The fine actors that they are; one full of verve, the other understated in line with what Ishwak calls Sarabhai’s principal trait, equanimity, they are a perfect foil to each other.

Jim possesses that uncanny dare bordering on chutzpah to play the upfront and sincere Bhabha. Ishwak appears reticent and resolute at once. As the series recounts the journey of two visionaries, their achievements, challenges, love life and more, we are led as much into the world of science as emotions.

Brilliant writing (Kausar Munir and Abhay Pannu are dialogues writers) does justice to its subject, neither making it too complex nor too simplistic. It does not dumb down at its audiences and is as much a treat for science literate as those not so well-versed with the subject. A whole lot of fine dialogues such as “Often the best men tend to lose objectivity in their pursuit of excellence…” in English could alienate some Indian viewers, but is bound to earn more global viewership. A must watch … For its only once in a while we get a series on Indian scientific community that too in a fashion which is realistic, yet not dreary.

As well researched as ably imagined… Streaming on SonyLiv, this is one more feather in the channel’s cap… Savour it at your own pace, not necessary to binge-watch for the eight episode series ending on a climactic high rolls on. The second season is very much on the anvil, which we are waiting for with bated breath. For now, watch the Rocket Boys soar and uplift your spirits.