Rocketry: The Nambi Effect
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is a 2022 Indian biographical drama film written, produced, and directed by R. Madhavan in his directorial debut. The film is based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, played by Madhavan, a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation, who was accused in an espionage case and later exonerated. The story spans across Narayanan's days as a graduate student at Princeton University, before exploring his work as a scientist and the false espionage charges placed upon him. Simran plays the female lead.
After its official announcement in October 2018, principal photography took place across several countries, including India, Russia, and France. The cinematography and editing were handled by Sirsha Ray and Bijith Bala, respectively, while the original score was composed by Sam C. S. Rocketry was filmed simultaneously in Tamil, Hindi, and English.
The English version of Rocketry premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May and the Tamil and Hindi versions had its theatrical release worldwide on 1 July 2022. The film opened to mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised Madhavan's performance, his screenplay and his noble intention to make the film. The film garnered recognition with several awards and honors, including winning the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.
Plot
During the present time, in a televised interview with actor Shah Rukh Khan /Suriya, Nambi Narayanan walks through the events leading to his rise as an eminent engineer to alleged espionage and treason charges, coupled with physical and mental cruelty against him and his family. He starts with his experiences at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, where he saves A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, one of his team members, from a major injury during an experiment. In 1969, he was accepted into Princeton University for his MSE in chemical rocket propulsion, at the expense of the Indian government.Nambi successfully completes his MSE under the mentorship and tutelage of Professor Luigi Crocco, who recommends him for a fellowship at NASA. While working at NASA with Barry Amaldev, he is offered a huge paycheck, a permanent posting, along with other allowances. He rejects it and returns to India in the hopes of using his talents at ISRO. Working at ISRO, he managed to get 400 million pounds of equipment from Scotland, for free. However, after the suspicious death of Vikram Sarabhai, he did not have adequate support from ISRO or funds from the Indian government to continue his research. At this point, Nambi strikes a deal with the French scientific community, which needs skilled scientists to help them build their liquid fuel engine. He then moves to France with his colleagues, hoping to learn from France's advanced technology, so that they may recreate it back in India.
Unbeknownst to the French, Nambi and his 52 colleagues learnt French before their journey but pretend to not understand them. After being kept out of their major discussions, Nambi's team tries to find a way to gain access to these meetings and test data. It is then that they discover that the French engine is faulty. Nambi uses this opportunity to gain access to the required data in exchange for fixing the engine. The team then returns to India and starts working on building their own engine, based on liquid fuels. However, due to a lack of resources, it takes 8 additional years to complete their prototype. They test the engine at the same testing facility in France, where it goes above the 135 pressure mark, and to 180. Successful in his plans, Nambi returns to India after naming the engine, "VIKAS" after Vikram Sarabhai, whom he considers as his mentor.
Nambi's focus is now on cryogenic engines, which he believes will make India competent to participate in the world satellite market. Knowing ISRO's limitations in terms of time and resources, Nambi decides to purchase these engines from another country. He strikes a deal with the USSR, after informing them that he knows about their cryogenic missiles, as informed by a Russian friend of his, in Princeton. He requests that four engines be imported to India. After the Russians agree, the Americans find out about this deal and try their best to break it. While the USSR is on the brink of collapse, Nambi and his colleagues manage to expedite the transfer process and sneak out a couple of engines from under the Americans' nose, with the help of the Russians.
Back in India, one day, Nambi is arrested out of the blue, while news of his treason spreads like wildfire. He is taken to a guest house in Trivandrum, where he is beaten and tortured in an attempt to make him confess to his alleged crimes. He also recognizes that the officials are trying to make him repeat their sentences and that there is a recording device in the room to capture them. However, Nambi holds his ground and denies all charges. It was alleged that Nambi met Mariam, a Maldivian woman, in a hotel in Madras, and after being caught in her trap, he was forced to sell India's rocketry secrets to Pakistan. After being hospitalized for his injuries, Nambi is met by a CBI official, P. M. Nair, who thoroughly investigates the matter. Nair finds Mariam and interrogates her and her friend Fauziyya, along with a few others. Mariam and her friend reveal that the Malayali police officer in charge of the investigation, Gopal, tortured and threatened them to falsely incriminate Nambi, whom they have never met before. They also apologize to him for completely tarnishing his reputation and causing pain to him and his family. Nair also figures out that all of the accused people in the case are members of the cryogenic wing at ISRO, and concludes that it was a huge ploy by some powerful parties to hinder India's progress in the cryogenic sector.
Months later, Nambi receives bail and returns to his house to find his family members traumatized by the way they were treated by society. Nambi's wife, Meena Narayanan, needs urgent psychiatric help, and the rest of his family is still shunned by society. Hence, Nambi decides that he has to clear his name publicly so that his family members can lead normal and peaceful lives in the future. Years later, Nambi is proven innocent by the Supreme Court and returns to ISRO, helping his colleagues with the Mangalyaan mission. Following the success of the mission, in 2019, Nambi is awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contributions to Indian Space Research.
After hearing his story, Khan/Suriya feels so bad for Nambi, that he apologizes to Nambi on behalf of the whole nation, as the interview ends. Nambi is later shown receiving the Padma Bhushan from Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India.
Cast
Additionally, Nambi Narayanan portrays himself for the last 15 minutes of the film.Production
Development
A film based on the espionage case of ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan was first announced to the media in September 2012 by director Anant Mahadevan. Journalist C. P. Surendran had proposed the idea for a potential film on Narayanan to Mahadevan during June 2012. The two then met Narayanan in person to discuss the idea and seek his permission, and he agreed to serve as a consultant for the project. Malayalam actor Mohanlal was cast in the role of Narayanan, while Resul Pookutty, Sreekar Prasad and L. Subramaniam were finalised as the sound designer, editor and music composer for the project. Titled The Witch Hunt, the film was to be made in the Hindi and Malayalam languages. The team were in talks with several production houses but the project eventually did not take off as planned. Mahadevan later narrated the idea of the film to actor R. Madhavan in the mid-2010s, who helped take the film forward.Work on Rocketry: The Nambi Effect was first reported by Madhavan in the media during April 2017, when he announced that he was set to appear in a biopic featuring the "extraordinary story of an unsung hero", who was "neither an actor nor a sportsman". He called the project his "biggest film ever" and stated that he had worked silently on the script of the film for a period of two years after becoming intrigued by hearing the tale of Narayanan's false espionage charge. To develop the script and to provide a more factual account of the events, Madhavan regularly met with Narayanan, garnering his approval for the film and discussing the scientist's life experiences. As a result of their conversations, Madhavan chose to alter his original script to include portions from Narayanan's entire career and his services to the Indian space programme, rather than just matters related to the espionage case and his 1994 arrest. For the script, he also took inspiration from Narayanan's autobiography Ormakalude Bhramanapadham and Arun Ram's official biography of the scientist titled Ready To Fire: How India and I Survived the ISRO Spy Case.
In October 2017, Madhavan confirmed that pre-production work for the film was underway and that he would portray Narayanan from the ages of 27 to 75, and that he was gaining weight to film the scenes featuring the older version of Narayanan first, after taking advice from Aamir Khan. Madhavan also announced that alongside his screenwriting and acting credits, he would also be one of the producers of the project. In regard to the making of the film, Madhavan stated that he hoped to differ in the script in comparison to other biographical films, and suggested that he would not call the film a "biopic" but an "incisive investigation into a brilliant mind and India's ambitious space technology". He also added that he felt that Madhavan was the "only Indian actor qualified to do this part" owing to his background as an electronic engineer with air-force training, and because he was "a thinking-actor who is also well-read". Madhavan was later announced as a joint director of the film.