The
review:
Being
a fan of Madhavan’s and him (alongside Kamal and Rajini) being the only actor I
follow online, I came on board of the Rocketry experience from the time it was
announced. It was a crazy deal. Madhavan is not the most sought-after
actor now, he never quite had worked close on any capacity other than just an
actor with other directors is directing. And writing? Puh-leeze
(*eye roll*).
And
it as it turned out, the ranking goes like this for Madhavan’s three role
in this film (in my assessment, that is):
1. Writer
2. Director
3. Actor.
Many
actors have taken a stab at direction, and most floundered, let’s not
even talk about the self serving writing, often designed to bite more
than what they can chew.
But
Madhavan managed to regroup all he could muster, the three decades of experience
working with varieties of filmmakers and technicians, crafting a compelling
script that is not an eulogy to a still living larger than life figure, but an
unraveling of the slices of life of a brilliant man who is not without his
flaws, who was, too bad, and I don’t care if many disagree with
this, just born on the wrong geographical spot at the wrong time.
First
and foremost, it doesn’t even feel like an Indian film, at least in the
contemporary sense, especially not a Tamil film. None of those over the
top (sometimes literally) showy cinematography or use of editing gimmicks that
look two decades left behind. Speaking of which, I don’t know why they
dig up Simran whose cinematic record being having never used her own voice and
performing mostly with just her hips, and emoting by contracting/flaring
nostrils. At least she retired the hips here.
The
filmmaking itself deserves accolades, and as mentioned, never going over the
top, telling the story as it is, of a man who was instrumental in the efforts
behind an important scientific endeavour who later became victim of internal,
and international politics, wronged and later absolved of the manufactured “crime”.
There may be complaints during the first part of the film where
the science may bewilder many of those uninitiated on the rocket science, which
would be majority of us – but Madhavan the director brought out fantastic
performances from all around even the international casts who would normally
sleepwalk their roles for paycheque.
As an actor Madhavan excelled in not crying for attention to
himself – the ego of a director/actors who often projected themselves as larger
than life heroes is completey out of question here. In fact, in showing his
patriotism and dedication to his work, his character, Nambi Narayanan, withholds
the message about the funeral of one of his scientists’ child so that nothing
disrupts the planned assignment for his handpicked group of scientists. It
showed the selfish side of him, very conflicting, but his conscience is cleared
during the later part of the film. Madhavan was fantastic here - and I had
always seen that crazed fire in his eyes many a times in his older films (used
to maximum effort in Thambi, a guilty pleasure of mine).
As the director, despite the slow pace, he kept the emotion in
check throughout the film often keeping us at the edge of the chair even though
there is no shooting of guns or splattering blood.
Indeed, and speaking as someone who no longer watches new Tamil
releases regularly, this is perhaps one of the most important films to come out
in that language, though, as mentioned, this does not feel like an Indian film
at all, let alone the Tamil version.
Yet, one cannot dismiss the bitterness expressed towards the end
of the film, the appreciation for real genius and talent, amidst the society
that has no respect for those, a society that is still clinging on to morbidly
dumbass values from culture. I felt it strongly, and that is why I say Nambi
Narayanan has no business in, at least, this part of the world.
Thankfully, this film will continue to remind us of that. Those who
wrong Nambi still exists, in our society in fact… and that crab story will
still persist when it comes to Indian community no matter which country it is
in. It’s a sad truth, and Rocketry, more than a celebration of a genius, is a
sad commentary on the failure of a society, of a culture, of leaders who are
never in the business of grooming leaders but are only concerned about their
rickety authority chair they are clinging on too. The collateral damage to
their egoistical struggle is scientists like Nambi Narayanan,
This film makes me extremely proud to be a fan of Madhavan.
After Kamal and Rajini, and to a certain extend Prabhu Ganesan, I had ranked
Madhavan high as an actor way back then. But with a new dimension as a director,
and most importantly as a good scriptwriter, I believe the new multi-faced avatar
of Madhavan will get the recognition he deserves, a far cry from the heartthrob
image he once possessed. I am really proud to be his fan.
No comments:
Post a Comment