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We witnessed Dr Homi Bhabha confidently stride across the corridors of the Parsi Lying-in Hospital last  August. To be more accurate, we saw a flamboyant, well coiffured Jim Sarbh enacting the role of the nuclear physicist when shooting for the bilingual Hindi-English television series Rocket Boys. Our interest piqued, we had decided then to see the scientist projected on screen.
We were not the only eager ones. The official trailer of the eight-episode show had aroused over 25 million views on YouTube at the time of its launch on February 4, 2022, as reported in The Hindu of the same day. They were as interested in seeing on the SonyLIV paid television channel "the story of two extraordinary men… who created history while building India’s future” as read the promotional line. The scientific quest and emotional unrest in the lives of Bhabha and Dr Vikram Sarabhai in a pre and post-independent India unravel dramatically in every episode that lasts for nearly 45 minutes each. And what better than an OTT (Over The Top) platform that enables TV and film content to be viewed using the internet connection instead of satellite service or cable connection?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shooting of the series in eight cities continued for 120 days during the turbulent period when Covid soared and ebbed, specified the credits on the eighth episode. Created by Nikkhil Advani, directed and scripted by Abhay Pannu, produced by Roy Kapur Films and Emmay Entertainment, the Rocket Boys team was very clear there would be "no deification” of the scientists. They wanted to tell the story of Homi and Vikram as "relatable characters” rather than merely show them as Dr Bhabha who sought to harness nuclear power and Dr Sarabhai who was pursuing space research.
 Thus, while factual knowledge of Bhabha is available from biographical literature, school science text books, four postal stamps, a 10-rupee coin, the Atomic Research Centre that bears his name, the persona of Homi as a mentor, confidante, inspiration, opportunist was palpable when Sarbh effortlessly essayed the scientist’s many moods. To Sarbh, it was important that "the spirit of the man comes through even though we may not get the thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.”
When this role was offered to Sarbh, he had "every reason” to accept the project: "The story was set during times we don’t think about often. It was about scientists, a rare case in Bollywood. It depicted the friendship between Bhabha and Sarabhai that sounded fascinating. We wanted to humanize these legendary figures, Although I had only cursory knowledge of Bhabha, here was somebody connected to my Parsi heritage and it gave me an opportunity to represent the community,” mentioned Sarbh during a brief chat with Parsiana. He realized he did not have to put in effort to get the Parsi nuances right or slip in the occasional expletives that Parsis are known to mouth.
Ever since Pannu motivated Sarbh and Ishwak Singh who plays Sarabhai to start reading up on the scientists, Sarbh could not stop marveling at the "Renaissance man with a curious, agile mind and a deep interest in not only science but arts, culture, music, sports, politics… I was drawn to his life, reverence, attention to detail, showmanship, his character that allows for a full portrayal.” Sarbh’s fan following having increased after the release of this show, he played down the encomiums he has been receiving from both admirers and critics saying, "I don’t think an actor can be better than his material which in this case was so rich and fascinating.” He mentioned how so many people from a science and engineering background had "a personal connect with this story and would reach out to him. It shows the legacy of these two men.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarbh was able to relate with the character of Bhabha who, like him, had studied and lived abroad before settling in India. Born in an aristocratic household to Jehangir and Meherbai Bhabha, Homi had studied at Cambridge from where he earned his doctorate, specializing in cosmic rays. He was on a vacation in India when the outbreak of World War II compelled him to stay back and lay the foundation for India’s nuclear program under then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru played by Rajit Kapur.
For nearly a decade, Sarbh has enjoyed another bond with Homi. In 2011 when the estate of Homi’s younger brother Jamshed was auctioned by the house of Pundoles (founded by Sarbh’s maternal uncle Dadiba Pundole), Sarbh, who was then a struggling theater actor, took a fascination for an unusual desk that had once belonged to Homi. "It is a beautiful Art Deco semi circular desk” resting on blocks with two sets of drawers. He jokingly advised his parents Lale and Jimmy to bid for it. His indulgent father bought it and presented it to an overjoyed Jim who greatly values this mystical connect long before the series materialized.
"I believe you must do what you can on your own and not waste time on what’s not under your control. My father’s words, but they have served me quite well,” Homi is seen advising Sarabhai in the series. The strained father-son relationship surfaces at different times in Rocket Boys when Homi refers to his lawyer dad, enacted by lawyer Darius Shroff, as "the most sick, twisted… you’ll ever meet in your life.” When Jehangir succeeds in dismissing the case for Homi and Vikram who were dragged to court for frivolously replacing the Union Jack with a forerunner of the Indian flag, Homi is obligated to say, "Thank you Daddy.” Refusing to be mollified, Jehangir snarls, "Thank your Mom. She’s the reason I saved you… Ma ka ladla (mama’s pet)!” "Everyone knows she’s the more sensible one,” counters Homi. When Vikram tries to assuage the tension and admits that he was responsible for provoking Homi’s felony, the father retaliates, "I know my son very well. No one can make him do what he does not want to do!”
 Mother Meherbai, played by Anahita Uberoi, is the quintessential Parsi mother, indulgent and protective of her son, willing to use her connections to promote Homi when he is vying for a Tata grant to launch his research institute. Yet another Parsi actor Shahrukh Irani makes a fleeting appearance as "Choksi Uncle,” J. R. D. Tata’s trusted lieutenant Prof Rustum Choksi who was director and managing trustee of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. As recalled Jim, the shoots with several Parsi characters were "easy and relaxed; we were joking around between takes.”
The viewers too are guaranteed to enjoy a few laughs in between some pithy lines: "Often the best minds tend to lose objectivity in the pursuit of excellence.” "Sometimes being wrong is the right way.” "You can’t shuffle the world order without ruffling some feathers.”

 

Spice to the scientists
"I can’t wait for things to happen to me… If you keep measuring the pros and cons, moral obligations, rights and wrongs, then you’ll lose the opportunity,” declares Homi in the series. That may well be the reason why after 18 months of research, and under guidance of Dr Spenta Wadia of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research on matters concerning science, Pannu took the plunge to proceed with the series although others before him have been indefinitely toying with the idea to profile the scientists and their path-breaking initiatives. Jim gave Pannu credit for presenting scientific facts "in an organic way that was character driven and not just in a bookish expositional way.”
The series was advertised as "a fitting tribute to India’s scientific luminaries,” "brilliant portrayal of passionate scientists,” "biopic drama that never stops inspiring,” "meaningful, educative and inspirational series,” "game-changer”… While Pannu’s maiden directorial efforts have been lauded by the public at large, there have been some historians, scientists, biographers, reviewers, who have been irked by certain misrepresentation of facts. This despite every episode starting with a disclaimer specifying they have taken artistic liberties in the presentation of facts and figures. Among the scenes that remain long etched on a viewer are Homi arriving uninvited to a party with a convoy of coal bearing trucks; or a suited Homi diving into a pool to set right a technical fault just prior to the launch of the reactor. Neither of these could have played out in real life but they add spice to the scientist’s persona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commending the series for its "brilliant acting, directing, scripting,” Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of the online newspaper, ThePrint, admitted that while he "breathlessly” watched all eight episodes (three full length feature films worth of time) at one go as it is "so well constructed,” he could not understand why the story needed to invent a villain. He was not happy with the way the fictional Mehdi Raza, a dark-complexioned Muslim from the Communist party, is made to resemble Prof Meghnad Saha, the Dalit founder of the Institute of Nuclear Science in Calcutta, with whom Homi is known to have had differences. Pannu maintained in a chat show with YouTuber Rohan Joshi, "All characters are based on something I’ve read about… Of course, we have dramatized it a bit. I wouldn’t say it is completely fictional or completely factual.”
Sarabhai’s biographer Amrita Shah too faulted Rocket Boys: "For much of the series he (Sarabhai) is made to wander in an air of dreamy abstraction, indulging in well-meaning but ill-thought-out ventures… The portly Bhabha has been turned into the virile superhero in the series but in real life Vikram fought the tough battles…”
"You can nitpick. You can nitpick with anything… As a family we are thrilled with it. Necessarily there are things that a series like this has to leave out… They took on as much as they could,” Vikram and Mrinalini Sarabhai’s daughter Mallika gave the series a clean chit in an interview shared on YouTube. Working with the production team for the last two years for the current season as also the upcoming eight-episode second season, she had been brought on board to give her inputs. "Amma was Homi’s tennis partner. Homi introduced Papa to Amma but the story is told differently in the movie.” This did not matter to Mallika.
She is more concerned that viewing the series should help reinforce that "one can be idealistic without being dogmatic. One can be committed to the country without having to beat one’s chest and without having to kill anyone.” She was reassured knowing the makers of the series "loved Papa and Homi… Badi sensitivity, respect and pyar sé bani hai yeh serial (this film has been made with a lot of sensitivity, respect and love).”