At one point in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, we see Madhavan’s Nambi Narayanan drive a snow sled in Russia as he tries to smuggle off rocket components in a Russian flight just as the Americans come to confiscate them. There are snow-capped mountains, an almost femme fatale-type Russian, and a rocket scientist who can handle his champagne. If not anything else, Rocketry could have been our very own The World is not Enough meets A Beautiful Mind of sorts. However, that is not the story that Madhavan wants to tell, and that is certainly not the story Nambi Narayanan deserves to be represented in.
Cast: Madhavan, Simran, Rajeev Ravindranath, Sam Mohan
Director: Madhavan
It is interesting where Madhavan, who makes his directorial debut with Rocketry, decides to start the film. He starts off with actor Suriya, playing himself, interviewing Nambi in a live show. Although the premise isn’t new, it is definitely promising, but we also see glimpses of Madhavan’s directorial style where he ensures the melodrama is elevated among the peripheral characters. Nevertheless, there is a gradual buildup to the crescendo, and we are introduced to Nambi’s family, and it is intercut (editor Bijith Bala employs a smart editing style that is used often in the film) by the country waking up to the news of Nambi’s alleged treachery. What happened to Nambi was the primitive form of ‘Cancel Culture’ where an allegation was enough to tarnish the image of a man who gave everything to his country. But Madhavan doesn’t just want to concentrate on the humiliation suffered by Nambi and his family at the hands of the power structures and people in the country. He wants to show us the man behind the white flowing beard. Nambi would have liked it too, and the narration moves back and forth to reintroduce us to the life and times of Nambi Narayanan, a stubborn rocket scientist, whose only aim in life was to put Indian rocket science on the global map.
Avinash Ramachandran 