The Rocket Boys – the new SonyLIV web series that is streaming now – is, broadly speaking, an excellent job. As a character drama, Rocket Boys deftly balances the personal and business worlds of its dual leadership: Homi Bhabha (Jim Sarbh from Made in Heaven), the father of India’s nuclear program, and Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India’s space program. (Ishvak Singh, from Paatal Lok). At times combative, Rocket Boys – entirely written and directed by debutant Abhay Pannu – depicts the characters’ inner struggles, discoveries and challenges. It describes their talent and perseverance (except for their friendship), but it also doesn’t shy away from admitting to the fact that Bhabha and Sarabhai didn’t always deliver on their promises.
While the soft Sarabhai was more exposed to uplifting the lives of the downtrodden, it is through the cruel Bhabha that rocket boys touches upon that eternal debate about great minds. Men of genius and purpose – from Michael Jordan to Bhabha – are selfish. They do not think about what is good for everyone, nor do they care about the ego, feelings and mental state of others. Bhabha didn’t become the man we know by waiting around him, he grabbed opportunities and pushed them forward. Plus, the Rocket Boys are smart enough to show that this way of life makes mighty enemies – though sonyliv The series happily slides deep into its run over plot territory.
The Rocket Boys are also smart enough to admit that the opportunities that came their way – and this is true for both Bhabha and Sarabhai – were partly thanks to their privilege. The eight-episode SonyLIV series never shied away from dissecting it, though elsewhere, it shies away at presenting them as saviors in ways that seemed too easy.
Long as a piece of entertainment, beyond giving us a window into the confluence of science and politics, the Rocket Boys — set in three decades, the ’40s, 50s and ’60s — helped sketch the world of the pre and post Saves – Independent India. It reflects the hopes, needs, aspirations and demands of a brave new India. But it’s not always a pretty picture. With a mix of privileged children in the picture, Rocket Boys shows how elitism led to egalitarianism in democratic India.
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And elsewhere, the Rocket Boys also serve as a reminder of how little science is sometimes about science. Bhabha may have been a great physicist, but he was, first and foremost, a shaman. It is generally accepted that Bhabha promised more than India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (Rajit Kapoor, The Making of the Mahatma). While some of Bhabha’s rivals were producing results and being ignored, Bhabha wooed India’s political elite with her performance. The Rocket Boys are disappointing proof that people would rather invest in something cool than something with a better shot.
It all comes together on the new SonyLIV series, thanks to writer-director Pannu – formerly an associate director amazon prime video Chain Mumbai Diary 26/11 Who is working on the story of Abhay Korane (Bhavesh Joshi Superhero). Pannu co-wrote the dialogues of Rocket Boys with lyricist Kausar Munir (83, Gunjan Saxena) For someone who’s never made a feature or longform project, it’s confident filmmaking — confident in their abilities, the Rocket Boys aren’t afraid to move at their own pace. Pannu’s direction, with editing by Mahir Zaveri, is good at setting the tone and conveying emotions. They know exactly how long to give you a feel for what’s going on in the characters, and to hint at what’s left untold and happening beyond the surface.
Pannu, however, is not the producer of Rocket Boys. The credit goes to Batla House director Nikkhil Advani, along with his production banner Emme Entertainment and fellow Rocket Boys producer Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Roy Kapur Films. This is the second time an Advani project has listed its “producers” in this strange corporate fashion – the aforementioned Mumbai Diaries was another – where the production house was named alongside a single person.
Harshveer Oberoi’s cinematography, along with Meghna Gandhi’s scintillating production design, blends well with the period era on Rocket Boys. And after his immense success with the theme Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, it makes sense that SonyLIV and the Rocket Boys team would be turning to composer Achint Thakkar. In some places, Rocket Boys unintentionally or intentionally hints at a popular Bollywood score. But other than that, Thakkar does some great work – apart from (once again) delivering a great intro theme.
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Ishwak Singh as Vikram Sarabhai in Rocket Boys
photo credit: SonyLIV
When the Rocket Boys open, it’s 1962 and China has just declared war on India. The relationship between Bhabha and Sarabhai is at its peak. While the pragmatic Bhabha believes India’s best bet is to announce that they are close to developing an atomic bomb – as a deterrent – the peaceful Sarabhai is baffled. Recognizing that this was a wrong approach, he tendered his resignation. The new SonyLIV series then jumped to 22 years ago in 1940. While studying at Cambridge, Sarabhai got caught up in The Blitz and decided to return to India. Shortly after, thanks to the connections of his father Ambalal Sarabhai (Muni Jha), Vikram ends up in Bangalore at the Indian Institute of Science to conduct research with Nobel Prize-winning physicist CV Raman (Karthik Srinivasan).
Elsewhere in 1940, Bhabha is working as Professor at Calcutta College of Science. The institute’s founder Medhi Raza (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) is trying to recruit him for good, but Bhabha knows that big things are in his luck. He also seems to have had an objection about Raza’s funding coming from the Muslim League. By the time Sarabhai reaches Bangalore, Bhabha has established a cosmic ray unit at IIS under Raman. He is not happy leaving Calcutta behind, although with funding from IIS Raza was able to offer a lot. Bhabha and Sarabhai’s relationship turns into a mentor, while the former also develops a rivalry with Raza, who seems to have been seen on every level because of Bhabha’s privileged origins and ostentatiousness.
Although Raza is a character created for the Rocket Boys, he is a version of the famous astrophysicist Meghnad Saha who, like Raza, came from a poor lower-caste family, was Bhabha’s rival, and a privileged figure of Nehru. opposed in favor of class. Raza is not the only fictional character in the SonyLIV series. Saba Azad plays Bhabha’s neglected love interest Parvana “Pipsy” Irani, which I imagine the creators fashioned as a foil to showcase Bhabha’s passion for their work, and Sarabhai’s love interest As the counterpart of Ruchi and acclaimed dancer-choreographer wife Mrinalini Sarabhai (Regina Cassandra). , Through Pipsi and Mrinalini, the Rocket Boys reveal the shortcomings of their male leadership in the personal department – and it is able to draw parallels to the making of Pipsi.
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Regina Cassandra as Mrinalini Sarabhai in Rocket Boys
photo credit: SonyLIV
The Rocket Boys’ leads may be both male and male-dominated in the world, but the new SonyLIV series never forgets the fact that there were women supporting Bhabha and Sarabhai – but in reciprocating their care and admiration. failed. And it also makes for some smart humor, elevating traditional romantic scenes to show how selfish men can be.
The dynamic between Bhabha and Sarabhai is amusing and comical at many places – they joke and take on each other’s affairs – though the Rocket Boys’ attempts to be funny don’t always end there. In an early episode, it takes on a smug tone against the colonial British. I get the idea but it seems not only chronological, but the conspiracies against the British are distracting and don’t really serve a purpose. Other than filling a checkbox of some kind of patriotism. It’s unnecessary and a rare sign of the Rocket Boys going into overdrive with its content.
But by and large, Rocket Boy remains stationary as it descends into the stratosphere. Through its two genius leads, sonyliv The series portrays the vision and vision of a newly independent nation, where crores of people conceived and fought for a brighter and bigger and equal future for all. At the same time, it touches on matters of caste, gender, privilege, religion and ideologies – topics that continue to underpin India today.
Despite all the exploits of Bhabha, his promises remained unfulfilled. In an early episode, as Bhabha gives a passionate speech about energy self-reliance – a dream we have yet to realize – and a future where nuclear power will switch to coal to light the whole of India, the Rocket Boys Feel like a product of science fiction. After all, more than 70 years later, the country’s energy needs are still largely met by coal. By the end of last year, new coal mines were being auctioned. On top of that, India is the world’s second largest importer of coal. At present, nuclear power accounts for only 3 percent of India’s energy. The figure for coal? over 70. If Bhabha was alive today, I think it would be very disappointing.
The Rocket Boys feel it is nostalgic for a more optimistic India – an India at whose feet the world lay, an India emerging from centuries of oppression, and an India where pluralism was encouraged. An India where anything was possible. In this dark and gloomy time where what India stood for is being razed, the Rocket Boys are essential and a response to the country that we have become.
All eight episodes of Rocket Boys released on Friday, February 4 at 12PM on SonyLIV in India and worldwide.
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