Two men. One takes the more traditional route of running up the stairs, one floor at a time, and the other one, climbs up through the ledges, which is a faster way to get to the top, sure, but a bit more dangerous one. The aim of both of them is to replace the Union Jack with the Indian Tricolour at the top of Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru.
The event took place in 1942, and the two men are Dr Homi J. Bhabha and Dr Vikram Sarabhai, as shown in ‘Rocket Boys’, which chronicles the journey of, arguably, two of India's greatest ever icons, about whom the country knew little, while also humanising them at the same time, making it a wonderful biopic drama that never stops inspiring.
What's It About?
There are not many feature films based around Indian scientists and the handful of them that exist have often just hovered around the periphery, failing to either capitalise on explaining the science or the genius, or explore the emotional arc, that empathises with the genius. ‘Rocket Boys’, however, is a refreshing take, since it also in many ways, becomes the first ( hopefully of many) title to have chronicled the lives of India’s greatest icons in the world of nuclear physic and space research, and wonderfully captures the impact of their contributions in making India, what it is today.
Both uniquely gifted scientists, Sarabhai greatly influence by Gandhi, is calm, composed often polite and compassionate individual, while Bhabha is more brash, rebellious and one with a dry sense of humour. Despite the obviously contrasting personalities, their passion for science, and their personal ambitions to use their privilege and resources to make India be able to rub their shoulders with some of the best in the world, despite of the fact that the country had just got Independence from after 200 years of British Raj.
What's Hot?
It would probably would have been easier to glorify their achievements and talk about their contributions, making them seem super-human, which has been the approach for majority of biopics produced in India. ‘Rocket Boys’, while celebrating their achievements, doesn’t mind shining light on their losses, their rash and their weak moments and all those decisions that made them human, also rightfully acknowledging the support of their families, not just emotionally, but in their cases financially and influentially as well.
The casting is spot on. Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh shine as Bhabha and Sarabhai respectively. Their onscreen presence reminds one of countless buddy comedies, with two protagonists, with different approaches to reach a common goal, while also influencing each other on both personal and professional fronts in countless ways. Sarbh carries the charm and the exuberance of Bhabha just as well as Singh maintains the Gandhian poise of Sarabhai.
Dibyendu Bhattacharya as the fictional character of Raza Mehdi, an orphaned Muslim scientist, does complete justice to his role, which has been written with a lot craft and is used to pump in elements of thriller, every time the plot gets dangerously close to becoming more dramatic, thereby making it a compelling watch throughout. Regina Cassandra as Mrinalni Sarabhai does well, but doesn’t get much of screen time, failing to explore the layers of another one of India’s icons, and is less inspirational than it probably could have been. Similarly, Karthick TM, as the Nobel-prize winning physicist CV Raman, surprisingly disappointingly, stayed in the background.
Arjun Radhakrishnan as a younger APJ Abdul Kalam, however is a wonderful addition to the cast and looks like will become the central figure, since the makers are already working on the second season of the show.
What's Not?
Despite its brilliance and humanised approach, parts of ‘Rocket Boys’ will make one wonder, if the makers, like their subjects got lost “while pursuing excellence”. Rajit Kapur as Jawahar Lal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, who becomes closely involved with Sarabhai and Bhabha’s researches and future projects, is surprisingly underwhelming, and in certain scenes Kapur appears to be overwhelmed by the personality of the character he is playing.
The personal relationships of the primary characters are looked at, but the reasons behind the void in their personal lives, which pushes them to dedicate their lives for the country, were not explored as well thereby failing to elevate the significance of their contributions, even higher.
The Final Verdict
The involvement of CIA in Homi J Bhabha’s death in a plane crash in 1966, is weaved in wonderfully well, and by the end of the first season, viewers get a well-reasoned explanation of why the controversy theory around Bhabha’s death being a possible assassination by the CIA, holds some merit after all.
From the setting up of Apsara – India, no sorry, Asia’s oldest ever research reactor – at the Atomic Energy Establishment (now known as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre or BARC), to the first ever rocket launch in India, marking the birth if India’s space programme, the first season features some landmark events in the history of Indian nuclear research and the Indian space programme.
All through the course of eight episodes, celebrating them with the same enthusiasm as the failures and the breakdowns. After all, “making mistakes is one way of making sure that you are closer to the solution”.
