When Madhavan executes the deserved justice that time has preserved | Rocketry: The Nambi Effect review.

When Madhavan executes the deserved justice that time has preserved; Rocketry: The fate apologizes to Nambi Narayanan through The Nambi Effect

Pick the life story of a popular personality, make a biopic about them and you know the audience will be drawn to the theatres. But when you choose to tell the story of an underdog but manage to grab everyone's attention with your compelling storytelling and execution, that's true success. Based on the life of space scientist Nambi Narayanan, R Madhavan's Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is a story line that no one has ever thought of narrating on the big screen, but it has a lot to say.

Written and directed by Madhavan, the film stars Nambi Narayanan and after a long time, it's an onscreen portrayal that makes you notice the heart, soul and sweat that went into making it as realistic as possible. 

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect begins with a wide shot of space and a descent to Nambi Narayanan's home in Thiruvananthapuram, where we are introduced to his family. While everyone has a good laugh over lunch, their world comes crashing down after Nambi is arrested on charges of espionage.

Some of the scenes where Nambi's wife is humiliated at a wedding attended by him, his daughter is thrown dung in the middle of the road, his son is beaten and his son-in-law is attacked are some of the painful scenes. That's when you know it's not just one man, but a whole family that's been abused. 19 years later, the actor shows an aging Nambi (playing himself) in conversation with Shah Rukh Khan and takes us through his travails through a series of flashback sequences.

Rocketry chronicles the journey of one of the most brilliant and skilled ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) scientists, who values ​​his nation and science above all else. He leads a team of 52 scientists to learn technology from the French and accomplish some impossible tasks and finally convinces the Russians to sell their technology to India. Affordable, Madhavan turns Nambi and does all this with great charm and conviction.

Complicated first half..

The first half of the movie throws a lot of technical and scientific jargon at you which is difficult to understand and makes the movie very heavy. But Madhavan has no qualms about it as he doesn't compromise on the authenticity of his story. There are very few dialogues in English, French and Russian, which many may find a hindrance to the narrative, but they add a lot of authenticity to the plot. The film also has some interesting moments of Indian scientists interacting with people in the various countries they visit.

Secrets leaking to Pakistan..

The second half of the film is more intense, gripping and intriguing. It shows how Nambi was tortured in jail for falsely confessing to selling rocket science secrets to Pakistan. Here, I wish there was a little more focus on telling us who wronged him and what was the agenda behind it, but somewhere that question is left unanswered until the end.

Throughout the film, you connect with Nambi's story on a personal level - celebrate his triumphs, feel the pain of his lows, and cheer loudly every time he feels patriotic in his actions and words. It is no exaggeration to call Madhavan a one-man army who excels both in front of and behind the camera. His research and homework behind preparing this biopic is commendable. And with extreme honesty as a director.

Among the supporting cast, actor Simran as Nambi's wife Meena makes an impact with the few scenes we see. Then Karthik Kumar as a CBI investigation officer, Sam Mohan as PM Nair, Rajeev Ravindranathan as Paraman, Sartajay Bhausheel and others add depth.

Shah Rukh is coming...

Shah Rukh Khan's appearance as the interviewer who exposes chapters from Nambi's life remains the highlight of the film. The way he emotes and fully engages with Nambi's story during the interview doesn't feel like a scene from a movie. Full credit goes to Madhavan here for choosing such an inspiring story and telling it in such a moving manner that even King Khan was moved to tears till the end.

In 157 minutes, the film definitely gets a bit long, and sharper editing, especially in the first half, could have made it tighter. However, some stories require time and depth to tell, and in rocketry you don't really think about length of time.

Audiences might not categorize Rocketry: The Numby Effect as just a massively commercial film, but if it's time to free yourself from these expectations for this film, it's definitely worth your time and money. It lets you know your country better and tells the untold story of people who sacrificed a lot in life just for their country.

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