Rocket Boys

 

The Stars, Sun, Moon, Planets, Galaxies, Black hole, Meteors, Meteroits everything was a fascination to me since my school days. Sleeping at nights in the terrace is so common in the 90s and obviously we used to stare at the stars on those occassions. Those days, I used to think that I am going to be a scientist.🙄   

Recently after the successful Chandrayaan 3 launch, the fascination got revived, and made me (all of us, of course) know more about the project. Interest started with knowing more about Chandrayaan and ended up (?!) with watching Rocket Boys. 😁

I knew about the series since its first season, but never tried to watch it. Like I said earlier, after Chandrayaan 3’s success, as my love to space science got revived, I (with my daughter) started watching the series. I have always heard of Homi Bhaba and Vikram Sarabhai, but never tried to know more about them. I wouldn’t even recognise their faces in pictures. As we were contemporaries with the legend A.P.J. Kalam, I knew (and read) about him more than the other two.

This series of two seasons is an excellent way to know more about Homi Bhaba and Vikram Sarabhai. The nuclear and space research starts in India at least a decade before our independence and so is the series.   

We were very excited to see the brilliant, the bold, the charismatic, and the swag’gy Homi and a similar, but a cool and attractive Vikram. I always believe that when such true characters and stories are being told in celluloid, then 95% of it must be true. So I really hope the real Homi be a charmer and Vikram a calmer.  

I really wonder how many years the Government took just to give permission to build a bomb. Apart from economical issue, Pandit Nehru thinks if it is ethical. He is cautious that is should not go against humanity.

I am shocked to know about how the World leaders are constantly monitoring and trying to stop us from nuclear bomb inventions. It was very thrilling to watch how we escape from their envy eyes and do the secret Pokhran test.      

In every important final stage, be it nuclear reactor test by Homi, first rocket launch by Vikram or the first nuclear bomb test by Kalaam, everything struggles at the final stage. But our scientists attempt and succeeds in them.   

We indeed feel patriotic throughout the series, but we can feel an extra ounce of proud when we hear Sir. C.V. Raman and Dr. A.P.J. Abdul kalam speak in Tamil a bit 😇. And of course, while watching the King maker, Kamarajar on screen.    

My research usually starts 😬 when I finished watching such real-life based series or movies. My curiosity to check the reality becomes high in such things 😂. You can understand my curiocity, if I say an example. Can you believe that I researched internet and tried to know if really Mahavir Singh Phogot got only "chorion"s and not "chora"s. So, I am a very strict officer in that sense 😂.

I was in awe, when I read Wikipedia about both the scientists. "How much" they have studied, researched and invented various things in Physics. Both were brilliant and patriotic fellows with unstoppable dreams and vision. It is very very unfortunate that we lost such great minds so early.

I even saw a glimpses of interviews of Vikram’s daughter and she says her dad was always cool and calm. I saw few videos of real Homi and Vikram. The conspiracy around Homi’s death is real but not proven. We have no doubt the main characters including Mrinalini. But the other characters like Crow, Pipsy, Kamla, Raza and Mathur must also be real characters. Just the percentage of reality may differ.   

Kudos to the producer and director of the series. It was indeed a story to be told on a celluloid. The actors have chosen very aptly and they have acted so well. I have always liked Jim Sarabh and I became a fan after this series. Iswak Singh is handsome. Don't miss the series. Everyone must watch it.