'There should not be another Nambi Narayanan': R Madhavan on 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect'

With some 10 days left for the film to hit the theatres, actor R Madhavan has been busy promoting his directorial debut ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’. The film, scheduled for a theatrical release on July 1, has already received a lot of love and appreciation after its screening that was held at the Cannes Film Festival 2022. 

Days ahead of the film’s release, R Madhavan, in an exclusive interview with Asianet News, spoke about why he intended on making a biopic on the life of former ISRO scientist, Nambi Narayanan.

When asked why he chose to make a film on Nambi Narayanan’s life, he said, “The idea behind making this film was that no other Nambi Narayanan should happen to any country. We should be able to respect, and nurture are assets and patriots so that they can actually contribute to the society and the country, so we had to tell his story.”

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Stating another reason why R Madhavan wanted to make this film, he said, “India is fabulous in not just the freedom struggle or fighting the Mughals in terms of what movie industry shows as big-budget films. We are also good at science and technology, IT and medicines, but nobody makes a film about those fields and success. I thought we should make a film that glorifies the success of Indian scientists and engineers. So, this sort of became a tribute to all of them.”

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‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’ is a film that has been written and directed by R Madhavan. He has also, of course, played Nambi Narayanan’s character. However, interestingly, though this film marks his debut as a director, he had never imagined himself of directing it.
 
“I was never confident of directing the film. I was not meant to direct this film. When I decided to do this film, I didn’t get a producer. So, I decided to produce it; directing it was nowhere on the cards. One month before the actual shoot, my director could not direct it and left it. At that point in time the choice was whether we should drop the film, or should I direct it since everyone including Nambi Narayanan, believed that I could do it.”

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect will be released in at least three languages – English, Hindi and Tamil. R Madhavan also said that he has taken “no artistic liberty to turn it into a palatable cinema”. “There was no liberty taken. The entire film is based on facts,” said Madhavan. The film is a biopic based on the life of a former ISRO scientist and aerospace engineer who was falsely accused of espionage.