Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is an upcoming Indian biographical drama film based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organisation who was accused of espionage. The film is written, produced and directed by R. Madhavan, who also stars in the lead along with Simran. The film will be shot simultaneously in Hindi, Tamil and English, with the Tamil version titled as Rocketry: Nambi Vilaivu and features a soundtrack composed by Sam CS. The story spans across Narayanan's days as a graduate student at Princeton University, before exploring his work as a scientist and the false espionage charges placed upon him.

Having begun pre-production works in early 2017, the teaser of the film was launched in October 2018.

Cast

 * R. Madhavan as Nambi Narayanan
 * Simran
 * Bijou Thaangjam as Valley Guy
 * Shahrukh Khan in a Cameo appearance (Hindi and English versions)
 * Surya in a Cameo appearance (Tamil Version)

Development
Work on the project was first reported by R. Madhavan in the media during April 2017, when he announced that he was set to appear in a biopic featuring the "extraordinary story of an unsung hero", who was "neither an actor or a sportsman". He called the project his "biggest film ever" and stated that he had worked silently on the script of the film for a period of two years after becoming intrigued by hearing the tale of the former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan's false espionage charge. To develop the script and to provide a more factual account of the events, Madhavan regularly met with Narayanan, garnering his approval for the film and discussing the scientist's life experiences. As a result of their conversations, Madhavan chose to alter his original script to include portions from Narayanan's entire career and his services to the Indian space programme, rather than just matters related to his 1994 arrest. For the script, he also took inspiration from Narayanan's autobiography Ormakalude Bhramanapadham (2017) and Arun Ram's official biography of the scientist titled Ready To Fire: How India and I Survived the ISRO Spy Case (2018).

In October 2017, Madhavan confirmed that pre-production work for the film was underway and that he would portray Narayanan from the ages of 27 to 75, and that he was gaining weight to film the scenes featuring the older version of Narayanan first, after taking advice from Aamir Khan. Madhavan also announced that alongside his screenwriting and acting credits, he would also be one of the producers of the project.

Cast and crew
In late 2017, Madhavan held discussions with the likes of S. S. Rajamouli to be the film's director.

The title of the film Rocketry: The Nambi Effect and a teaser for the film was unveiled in late October 2018, with Madhavan also announced as a joint director of the film. A launch event also coincided with the teaser release, with Madhavan, Anant Mahadevan and Nambi Narayanan in attendance.

Filming
The film will be shot as a trilingual, being shot simultaneously in English, Hindi, and Tamil. Principal photography began on 21 January 2019.