Cast: Jim Sarbh, Ishwak Singh, Saba Azad and Arjun Radhakrishnan

Director: Abhay Pannu

Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh return as Dr Homi Bhabha and Dr Vikram Sarabhai to tell us the story of the life and times of the two legendary physicists forward.

Rocket Boys 2 is very carefully crafted, sticks to the stories it wants to highlight and leaves the rest for the footnotes. But the stories it crafts and showcases, it nearly perfects the storytelling. The series carefully chronicles the story of two scientists and the epochal work that they did in independent India as about their newly-free nation looking for a footing in a fast-changing world.

Just like in Season 1, Season 2 lays the foundation of the thought, the philosophy and the ideals that these highly adventurous, innovative and young people imbibed and how this became the foundation of the new India they were building.

The series uses recorded history and news footage presented to create the context for the dramatization of true events and policy decisions that shaped India’s space and nuclear programs under the leadership of Sarabhai and Bhabha and how those impacted political and socio-political policies for the sub-continent over decades.

The leads of the series are presented as fallible human beings and the audience understands their perspective, how are always human, vulnerable to provocations and not impervious to moments of weakness or wrong decisions.

Regina Cassandra as Mrinalini Sarabhai, brings a very impressive and assertive woman to the fore and has and has a significant presence in the plot.

Parvana “Pipsy” Irani  played by Saba Azad has far less to do in Season 2. This Nikkhil Advani-created show effectively chronicles how the scientists demonstrated resilience in the face of daunting odds and of  the genius of these men and a woman.  Indira Gandhi (Charu Shankar)’s vision and execution while building the nation initially and how these spectacularly brilliant people helped create the Idea of India.

Produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani and scripted and directed by Abhay Pannu, Rocket Boys S2 is not different from the first season  and creates a great enmeshment of fact and fiction to drive it’s engaging plot line.

The dramatization of the events leading up to India’s emergence as the world’s sixth nuclear power creates an imposing nous and suspense in the eight-episode series. The scientists endeavor to achieve their goals in the face of American surveillance ( everyone’s favorite TV enemy) as inclement weather conditions and technical glitches threaten to disrupt their progress. As the crisis spindles and the exposition gallops towards its climax, the show becomes more focused and keeps it’s story line on a  very restrained path to it’s message.

The makers bring in elements of nationalism by incorporating espionage elements into the show with American spies and Indian traitors joining hands to derail India’s nuclear vision. It lends to the color of the story and also builds the characters that the story talks about.

APJ Abdul Kalam (Arjun Radhakrishnan) is awarded a noteworthy degree of significance in the Bhabha and Sarabhai story but the show does not shine it’s light on other numerous brilliant scientists who were important people in India’s scientific community at that time.

The politics in the Indian scientific community is displayed with disdain with the story of the misunderstood fictional scientist Mahdi Raza, Wish they had spent more time in working the interpersonal rivalries effecting the scientific temper of the country.

Season 1 had struck a balance between the personal and the official lives of the scientists and season 2 continues to probe the daunting trials and tribulations that Bhabha and Sarabhai had to reckon with despite the unconditional support that they had to deliver their dreams and objectives from the top brass political circles in India.

The beauty of two men who do not waver from their beliefs and their love for science is enough endorphin to keep the series narrative addictive. What adds to the flavor are these two actors who so convincingly portray these men in science.

The series tells the story of the scientific temper in India in 1960s to the mid-1970s and how the ambitions of the country were hampered by factors that refused to dampen the spirit of these young innovators.

Rocket Boys should be an essential watch especially because more than the story of these stalwarts, it is an ode to the never say die attitude of a generation that had dreams for a new India and laid the foundation of a nation in its infancy