‘Rocket Boys’ Season 2 Series Review: Jim Sarbh, Ishwak Singh’s Series Reaches Broader Horizons, But Loses Focus

Jim Sarbh as Homi Bhabha in ‘Rocket Boys’ Season 2 | Photo Credit: YouTube/Sony LIV

as Jawaharlal Nehru (Rajit Kapoor) and Homi J as Bhabha (Jim Sarbh) smoke cigarettes and talk, the mind becomes sad and sad. Nehru refuses to settle down with Homi, saying that it is not just about maintaining a happy marriage. A man should also think about his heritage. Spotting something dark and unusual on his old friend, Homie stops by to investigate. “What’s all this heritage talk about?” he asks. Nehru sighs; It’s 1964 already. “It is time for the old to give way to the new,” he says, a reference to his 1947 Freedom at Midnight speech, except the world has moved on and it is Nehru who is now in the purview of the old.

such is the preservation of humility rocket boysSonyLIV’s acclaimed series on leading Indian scientists Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. Watching the first season last year, I was struck by how much common sense — scientific, historical, social — was packed into the primary writing and structure of the show. This is a series that thrives on resonance, achieved through a clever arrangement of characters and events. Thus, in season 2, when Homi needs thorium deposits to build his atomic bomb, he gets a callback from the Maharaja of Travancore, whom he practically intimidated into giving up his monazite deposits in the previous season. Was. And later, when his nuclear program is in disarray, a dying and disillusioned Lal Bahadur Shastri provides the needed impetus from Tashkent.

Directed by Abhay Pannu, rocket boys Both flirt and break with history. It often gets it right – at least to an extent no other Hindi OTT series has attempted or cared to do. Yet, as a show about scientists, it is the invention, creation and bold overreach that encapsulates the spirit of the show. In the first episode of the new season, Homie is trapped inside the reactor room in Trombay. As the radioactive steam is inhaled, the clock ticks away. I will not tell how he avoided extended exposure; Suffice it to say that if Harry Houdini and Captain America were to watch, they would both be equally pleased.

Yet, as the story progresses in the new season, this simplicity wears off. The producers, in an effort to bump up the stakes, veer dangerously way off course. A lot unfolds in the new season – intrigue, deceit, famous and infamous deaths. The geopolitics of the 1960s came to be dominated by a narrative about an elite group of nation-builders. After the crushing defeat of 1962, socialist, agrarian India is drifting away from the lofty plans of Homi and Vikram (Ishwak Singh). But America is keeping a close watch through its CIA mole. I was hoping the show would take a more personal route toward repairing the Rocket Boys’ friendship. Instead, it is the national duty that draws them back. “Only equal strength can ensure peace,” Homi says, defying America’s hokey nonproliferation policy. Will Vikram, a pacifist busy with his space and satellite programme, learn to stop worrying and love the bomb?

read also‘Rocket Boys’ Season 1 Review: The SonyLIV Series Knocks It Out Of Class

When it first launched rocket boys Its two Muslim scientists were scrutinized for contrasting treatments. Mehdi Raza (Dibyendu Bhattacharya), is a fictional character who pits the entire first season against Homi’s audacity. The makers have explained the use of Reza’s religious identity as a narrative device, a way to play with the audience’s preconceived notions and prejudices. Still, there is something unsettling in the way the series continues its humiliation, as Reza is accused of a serious crime. After escaping the stereotype of the Muslim villain, he enters another: the Muslim patriot who is misunderstood and ostracized and must clear his name at all costs. I was expecting Kalam (Arjun Radhakrishnan) – progressive India’s favorite Muslim – to provide the necessary answers. Nevertheless, he remains a sideshow till the last few episodes, and even there as the custodian of Homi and Vikram’s legacy.

Pannu’s filmmaking is measured and refined. From recreating the curvy dome of the Cirrus reactor to the ejecting rocket reflected off the window panes, its visual details are accurate. But the succession of corridors, boardrooms and office spaces in which the play largely unfolds gives it a relentlessly stuffy air. In the night scenes, Pannu opts for a copper colour, effectively rendering them monochromatic. The performances, though enjoyable, lacked enough variety to merit a new rating. Jim still has a charming role: sharp-tongued, indomitable. Ishwak, meanwhile, plays it as straight as his character helps the institute in some of the Krishi Darshan shows.

The series ends with a typical slide show enumerating the various achievements of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. As it played, a stray detail caught my eye: a writer whose book the show referenced, reveals a title card, “was later dismissed as a conspiracy theorist “. Many films and shows built on national pride end in self-congratulatory mode these days. However, only a few will heed that cautionary note. this is the best tribute rocket boys Pays for its leadership – the cautious, observant scientist who meticulously brought a nation to the light.

Rocket Boys Season 2 is currently streaming on Sony LIV.