Have you heard of a nuclear physicist called Raza Mehdi from Calcutta, contemporary of Homi J. Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, and senior to Abdul Kalam? He who was a victim of not Hindu-Muslim communalism or the Independence struggle but of a Shia-Sunni clash? He who didn’t get recognition in the pantheon of India’s nuclear brains? I’ve never heard of him. Nor has Google.
Welcome to the Titanic formula which goes above and beyond a biopic. Take momentous true events centred around genuine celebrated names of that period and shake it up with a few fictitious characters and dramatised events. If blended well, it works big time as an entertainment cocktail.
Hansal Mehta did it with Scam when he brought alive Harshad Mehta and the great stock exchange swindle of the 1990s. Nikkhil Advani did it with Mumbai Diaries 26/11 when he created fictional characters and gave them dramatic relationship stories but plonked them around the real terror attack that held the city hostage in 2008.
With permission and active inputs from the Sarabhai family, the lives and works of Bhabha and Sarabhai, who fuelled independent India’s nuclear energy programme, have been scripted with a fair amount of accuracy on historic moments and a flair for the dramatic in the web series Rocket Boys.
Put it down to uncalculated great timing. In an era when Nehru-bashing is fair game, this show arrives as a super balancer as it builds Nehru as the forward-thinking prime minister who bet on the two scientific brains to propel India’s entry into the global nuclear club.
But along with the true happenings and real household names, Mehdi was created by young director Abhay Pannu and his team to represent those scientific geniuses who got left out of history books and were denied recognition in their lifetime and forever. Engaging entertainment requires drama, and familiar human failings like resentment and revenge provide it. That’s how the Titanic formula works. That’s how fictitious Raza Mehdi was born.
The “thank you” to the Sarabhai family in the credits is not limited to permission to film Sarabhai’s life, his virtues and foibles and extramarital forays included. Mallika had invaluable inputs to contribute on her father’s close friend Bhabha too. Inputs culled from whatever her mother, the renowned Mrinalini Sarabhai, had passed on. Mallika also took personal interest in making sure her mother was portrayed captivatingly, okaying every sari, every piece of jewellery and every dance move. A charming actress from the South, Regina Cassandra, was brought in for the right touch of Chennai without turning it into a caricature of accents.
Naturally, the family had to be on board to approve the casting of actor Ishwak Singh as Vikram Sarabhai. Call it good timing again as Ishwak had worked at Mallika’s Darpana Academy, so she knew his capabilities and the nod came easily.
The biggest achievement of OTT platforms is that they have brought hitherto unknown talents like Pratik Gandhi from Scam into our homes, putting a premium on stellar performances, and veering away from tiresome stardom. Count Jim Sarbh as one of those who got the chance of a lifetime to portray the suave, nuclear-driven genius, Bhabha. Watch him and you’ll agree it was much more than his Parsee genes that made him a natural pick. Again, it’s fortuitous for Sarbh he’s around during OTT times.
Of course, the timing could not have been more perfect for Saba Azad, who plays Bhabha’s girlfriend, a love story that didn’t culminate at the altar. Saba has been in the news for reasons unconnected with Rocket Boys, as her hand-in-hand dinner date appearance with Hrithik Roshan made headlines last week. Director Abhay Pannu grins that he’s fielded no less than a hundred curious calls on Hrithik’s “new girlfriend”. He has a template ready: “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author
