R Madhavan dropped the much-awaited trailer for his directorial debut Rocketry: The Nambi Effect. He also stars in the lead as an 'arrogant genius' in a story based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer at Indian Space Research Organisation. It will follow his time as a student at Princeton, his career and subsequent espionage accusations.
The trailer shows his journey towards fulfilling his dream of establishing India in the commercial satellite market. It touches upon Nambi's successes and failures, and the people that contributed to it. Leading with the words 'but what destroyed him was his patriotism', the second half of the trailer explores the accusations against Nambi of leaking confidential data. The speculations about Shah Rukh Khan's cameo in the film were also confirmed in the trailer.
Many celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, and Hritik Roshan applauded the trailer on social media. Madhavan tweeted that Amitabh's encouragement gave him a 'lot more confidence', "Dear Amitji. Your blessings have always meant the world to us. To me and my family especially. I am able to move ahead with a lot more confidence now thanks to that." Amitabh earlier tweeted the trailer and wrote, "T 3860 - All the very best Maddy .."
Mahesh Babu congratulated Madhavan on his directorial debut in a tweet, "Congratulations on your directorial debut @ActorMadhavan. #RocketryTheNambiEffect trailer looks compelling! Looking forward to watching it on the big screen! Wishing you the best always," to which the latter replied, "Brother your generosity and kindness is legendary. Thank you so very much for your love and affection and this shot in the arm. We can’t tell you how grateful we feel. God bless you bro and see you soon."
Priyanka Chopra placed her trust in the 'maverick', "Maddy! You maverick... trust you to pick such an intriguing subject to produce, write, direct and act in! ‘Rocketry’ looks amazing... all the very best my friend." Madhavan said that Priyanka's support 'meant the world'.
Here are some of the other reactions, and Madhavan's humble replies:
Actor Simran stars opposite Madhavan in the lead. Rocketry is co-directed by Prajesh Sen, who previously directed Vellam. Other than Hindi, the movie is also shot in Engligh and Tamil with the Tamil version titled Rocketry: Nambi Vilaivu. While an official release date hasn't been revealed, the trailer announced that the movie is slated for a summer 2021 release.
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