Exclusive: Director Abhay Pannu shares 'Rocket Boys' journey; reveals what to expect from Season 2

A fabulous casting, powerful scriptwriting, stellar performances and impactful dialogues are the ingredients for a perfect recipe of a great content-oriented film/series. And filmmaker Abhay Pannu has perfected this recipe in his latest OTT release ‘Rocket Boys’. The series was released on February 4 on SonyLiv. Ever since its release, the team of ‘Rocket Boys’ has been riding high on success.

Starring Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh as Dr Homi Bhabha and Dr Vikram Sarabhai, respectively, this Abhay Pannu directorial series tells that legendary story of India’s ‘Rocket Boys’. Days after its release, the humble and young filmmaker, Pannu gets candid with Asianet Newsable about the series which has been receiving rave reviews, and has a 9.5 rating on IMDB.

Excerpts from the interview:

Why did you choose to dramatize this episode of Indian history?

Abhay Pannu: The idea and concept came from Abhay Puranik who went to Siddharth Roy Kapoor. The year 2019 was Dr Vikram Sarabhai’s 100 birth anniversary. Siddharth wanted to make a show on Dr Vikram Sarabhai. He approached Nikhil Advani; both of them wanted to work with each other for some time and this seemed like a good project. Nikhil, whom I had been assisting for three years, came up to me and said that “I’d like you to make this your first project, can you do it?” That is when this idea came up to me and I started working upon it.

What sort of research has gone behind the making of the show?

Abhay Pannu: All their ( Dr Bhabha and Dr Sarabhai) achievements, experiments, qualifications, et al are very well documented. We had the support of the family, meaning we had access to the other information as well. Information on them was easily available. But the tricky part was to get the science right. We had a few science experts on the show who ensured that we have got the details right. I like to joke that my production designer and my assistant director team can unsuccessfully launch a rocket and make a nuclear reactor. The rocket won’t take off nor will the reactor generate electricity, but they have done so much research that they can make a terrible rocket for sure.

Every character of the series, especially Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh are being loved for their character portrayals. How did you come up with such a brilliant casting?

Abhay Pannu: I want to give a lot of credit to Kavish, the casting director. When we started researching about Dr Bhabha, we found that he was a man of mystery, intrigued, mercurial, enigmatic, wicked sense of humour, intelligent and the smartest man in the room. He was very, very polished. And if you know Jim at all, if you have met him, he is very similar to that. He has similar traits. It was a no brainer for me. He (Jim) is also a Parsi, a phenomenal actor and he has these qualities about him that make him so similar to what my perception of Dr Bhabha was or our research on Dr Bhabha said. I don’t think there is nobody who could have played the role of Dr Bhabha the way Jim has played it. He was the first and only choice for the character.

On the other hand, Ishwak’s character took a lot of time to audition. We took a lot of time finding Dr Vikram Sarabhai; that is because the Sarabhai family was very deeply involved in the making of the show. When we started the auditions, we sent some of the ones we liked to Mallika Sarabhai (Dr Sarabhai’s daughter). None of them was working out. Then we came across the audition of Ishwak, whom we had seen in Pataal Lok. We immediately love him and sent his audition to Mallika; when she saw it, she said “this is papa”. And when a daughter says that, there is no need to look any further. Ishwak has a certain innocence and a sense of slight mischief in his eyes which Mallika said that “this is exactly what papa used to be like”.

Regina Cassandra was again the most obvious choice for Mrinalini Sarabhai who was a Bharatnatyam dancer and came from Chennai. We wanted someone who speaks in Hindi and has a certain accent; Regina fit the bill perfectly. Similar was the case with all the characters of the cast.

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Did you feel pressured while narrating this story that shaped the history of the country? Was there a fear that if anything would have gone wrong, you could have probably been facing a backlash for it?

Abhay Pannu: That pressure was obviously there. I’ll be dishonest if I said that I was relaxed; no, I wasn’t. The thing that helped was when we wrote the script, we were constantly getting support from everywhere. I showed it to my mentor Nikhil Advani; he said that the script does justice to their (Dr Bhabha and Dr Sarabhai) work. We then showed it to the Sarabhai family, even they gave us approval after suggesting a few changes. When we started shooting it, we felt we are doing good. At every stage of the filming, we were assured by the people around us that we were doing our best to do what we can. On the day of the release, all of us were really anxious. We were telling the story of the country, scientists, politicians, history and so many geopolitical events that someone might take offence to something, and things might go wrong.

How does a 9.5 rating on IMDB feel to you?

Abhay Pannu: I feel good and overwhelmed that people have liked our version of the story. When you tell a story, it's always your version of how a story should be told. It’s always tricky because there are people who have seen the trailer, they know of the story and have a perception of it. So, your story has to come in, replace their idea and then place it in their minds as the correct version of the story. I’m not really looking at the rating but the response that I am getting from people.

What’s the best compliment you got for the film?

Abhay Pannu: When my mother cried after watching the show. That has been the best part compliment for me.

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Is there any moment in the series that gave you goosebumps? If yes, which scene is that and why?

Abhay Pannu: The young Kalam’s entry is my favourite scene from the series. When I was finally watching the show before we released it, there were a few moments where I felt goosebumps and I thought to myself – “oh, it’s a nice moment. How did you manage to do that?” But, it was young Kalam’s entry that is my favourite because I feel it gives a perfect introduction to one of the most beloved icons of the country. It also establishes Dr APJ Abdul Kalam as the symbol of harmony and hope. 

How difficult was it to recreate the sets from the pre-independence era? What were the challenges that you faced in regard to the same?

Abhay Pannu: The most difficult part was to find locations that would pass off as pre-independence locations. Also, these buildings had some modern elements that needed to be removed. Since they are all heritage buildings, it become so challenging to seek permission to remove those modern touches. We were very conscious of finding locations that looked from that period – be it Ahmedabad, Kolkata or Mumbai. And then the dressing up of the locations was again a challenge in itself. We put in a year of our efforts in finding locations, doing research and spending a lot of money on dressing up the locations.

The first season ends at Dr Homi Bhabha’s death. Will there be a second season that will narrate Dr Bhabha’s air tragedy and the life of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam after that?

Abhay Pannu: Yes, there is a second season in the work that will show the air tragedy as well as the life of Kalam. The second season is in progress.

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