Thread by @seshanm

#ROCKETRY: THE NAMBI EFFECT

This is one of the finest films to come out of India in a long time.

* For the subject, which is the extraordinary talent and abilities of a great rocket scientist Nambi Narayanan.

* For a man who along with a great team and great leaders from Vikram Sarabhai to Satish Dhawan to Kalam, accomplished so much, so brilliantly and all on a shoe-string budget.

* For patriotism & love for the Nation, which needs no jingoistic declarations.

* To Madhavan, for making this extraordinary film and for acting in it with such extraordinary sensitivity and near-perfection.

* For making sure that ..
despite the inherent tragedy of Nambi being subjected to the most ridiculous, trumped up charges of

espionage...brutalized and tortured..and losing several decades of the most productive part of his life, fighting a legal battle to clear his name, Madhavan has not made the film maudlin.

If tears still spring to your eyes, it is because you contrast the shuffling,

slow-spoken, white-bearded man, with his younger, suaver, self-confident self and realise the treachery which rules the world....how even a tremendously strong-willed person can be brought to the brink of being broken.

* This film will have you swelling with pride, because it is one of the rare films which underlines Indian brilliance, chutzpah and daring;to aim and achieve the impossible, on ridiculously inadequate budgets, including our extraordinary Mars mission.

* The parts dealing with science, technology, from a layman's perspective have been done superbly. Nowhere does one cringe or wince, as one does in a typical Hindi film.

* There is not a minute in the two and half hour film that one's attention or involvement slackens.

It is told in a series of flashbacks, of the white-haired,
white-bearded Nambi, being interviewed by Shah Rukh Khan & an irreverent, almost contemptuous crew filming it.

As the film proceeds, the changing expressions of the young film crew, the dawning respect and the

tears springing to their eyes, mirrors your own emotions and reactions.

Ranganathan Madhavan has an extraordinary achievement on his hands. He has not only brought Nambi Narayanan to life:

* He has made the viewer proud to be an Indian.

* Given him an icon and a yardstick to measure patriotism, great vision and true achievement.

It is also a cautionary tale for all Indians, about the extent to which enemies of India, both within & outside will go to stymie our progress and development.

THIS IS A MOVIE EVERY INDIAN, ESPECIALLY THE YOUNG, SHOULD SEE.