Rocketry (2022)

Note: A film that exactly delivered what it had promised, neither disappointment, nor overstaying welcome.  Madhavan the writer excelled.

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.

 

RKP – 10 Jul 2022