TV Series Review — “Rocket Boys” (2022)
When I saw the trailer for this series, I was extremely excited and eager to watch it. A mini-series dedicated to the icons of India such as Vikram Sarabhai (Father of the Indian Space Program) & Homi Bhabha (Father of the Indian Nuclear programme). Such type of content is refreshing as it focuses on real contributors to India’s progress since Bollywood is usually focused on making quick bucks on notorious gangsters or recycling the same lovey-dovey content. Casting team & Make-up artists have done a great job for our dual protagonists played by Jim Sarbh (Homi Bhabha) & Ishwak Singh (Vikram Sarabhai).
Series follows the timeline from 1940s to 1960s which includes major events such as World War II, India’s independence & Sino-Indian War. These events are shown through the perspective of Homi & Vikram.
While both of our protagonists come from very rich families, it does not take away their significant contribution towards their respective fields for the benefit of India. Art Department has taken care to show that electricity is still scarce, so even rich families don’t have it during the initial part of series i.e. during the 1940s and they have to rely on old kerosene lamps. Kudos on such detail. 👍
Our characters develop from young college pass out boys to professional scientists working on their projects. Their 22 years journey is shown while major events are happening around them, both personally and professionally. The political red tape for any major science department being opened by the Government of India shows that it’s not an easy job, despite your talent and accolades. There are several usage of multiple languages such as Gujarati, Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, French. Although their usage is very limited, turning on English subtitles for these parts helps us to understand the context of the scene.
Back and forth friendly fires between Homi & Vikram was the introductory scene and let’s us know how this came to fruition from their initial days to the current timeline of 1962–63. However our antagonist is the character of Raza Mehdi (fictional character to continue the narrative of this series).He is shown to be left behind on multiple occasions due to Homi and Nehru’s friendship. It’s shown that Homi and Raza’s competitive 15 year one-upsmanship is the reason for the foundation of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research & Trombay Atomic Centre. This is just the creative liberty taken by the script writers. A late twist awaits for this character (#No_Spoilers).
Introduction of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (Missile Man of India and ex Indian President) character played by Arjun Radhakrishnan gave me goosebumps on the trailer and his introduction during the series is equally exhilarating.
As is the case of Cold War, it’s shown that the CIA kept a close eye on India’s progress by implanting moles to gather intelligence data on India’s Atomic & Space ambitions. In the end it’s shown that the CIA planned the assassination of Homi Bhabha which is a matter of debate till today. More details here as this is something our audience needs prior knowledge since it’s not shown clearly as to how the assassination was carried out.
Series ends with real footage of Homi & Vikram and reminds us of their tangible contribution towards the development of India.
Verdict: 8/10 and a “WATCH” recommendation to watch this 8 episode mini-series.
Watch it online here → https://www.sonyliv.com/shows/rocket-boys-1700000852/war-and-peace-1000158649
Or any other means by which you can get your hands on this series.
