Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

The film soon morphs into a hagiography from a biopic, with people repeatedly saying phrases like 'You're the man Nambi,' which comes off as the makers underestimating both the audience and the power of Narayanan's story. For this reason and more, the first half of the film comes off as confusing and half-baked.

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is a film that could have been a phenomenal watch. Despite the shortcomings, the story of Nambi Narayanan makes it a decent watch.

Despite such wonderful material to play with, the narration of Nambi's story is not engrossing. It's largely because while many of the dialogues are in English, the scientific jargon involved in rocket science, in liquid fuel engines, the VIKAS engine and cryogenics, will be pure Greek to most viewers.

R. Madhavan's directorial debut, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is a kind of biopic on Narayanan. But unfortunately its screenplay goes all over at 157 minutes. The biggest flaw in Rocketry is the language; imagine French men, Russians and the British speaking Tamil. The CBI guys talk Tamil as well! What should have been a multi-lingual work has been completely messed up; the lip-sync is terrible, and performances leave so much to be desired.

Shah Rukh Khan pops up every now and then to leaven a film that tells a necessary story but tells it shoddily and without curiosity. A stronger performer might have better conveyed Narayanan's agony. Madhavan's dedication, while undeniable, fails to challenge him to rise above his limitations and move beyond flat dialogue delivery and a handful of expressions.

Rocketry truly becomes a wonderful film when the focus is trained firmly on what Nambi Narayanan, his wife Meena, children, and son-in-law go through after the allegations surface. Standing strong opposite him is Simran, who once again proves why she is a consummate performer. Her guttural cries will be ringing in our ears long after the credits roll.

R Madhavan is a one-man army who puts together a spectacular show both in front of the camera and behind it. The research and homework that he has done behind putting together this biopic deserves an applause. Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is definitely worth all your time and money.

Madhavan deserves praise for picking a subject that not many people might be aware of, and more importantly, not diluting it by adding 'filmi' elements. But honest intention alone does not make a great film... translated into a film, it still feels like a missile gone astray.