Rocketry is based on the autobiographical book by Nambi Narayanan called Ready To Fire (Bloomsbury).

The first half: The movie starts with a Venkatesa Suprabhatham — the hallmark of most middle-class religious Hindu households of southern India — as is heard in the house of Narayanan.

• It shows a human story of scientific institution-building in the first 40 years of the independent Republic of India.

• A young and determined Narayanan learning without getting deviated by any temptations, his bonding with the family, and his guru bhakti towards Vikram Sarabhai are depicted.

The second half: It shows the false case, the torture, the way he came out of it, and finally when he gets justice.

• It brings out the events in perspective with what was happening in the emerging unipolar world with techno-apartheid expanding into a crumbling USSR.

• The movie is set through flashbacks of Madhavan as the old Narayanan, in a TV interview, getting interviewed by a popular actor.

Responding to critics: Hindu symbols shown in the movie are neither loud nor forcibly integrated.

• Narayanan is a religious person and India is a deeply religious society. So, it is natural that religion surfaces in the lives of individuals in their moments of pressure.

• To read into that any communal toxicity is more a commentary on the perversion of those who make such a commentary than on the movie.

Recalling Narayanan's role: Had he yielded to torture, then ISRO could have collapsed as a credible national space agency aspiring to become (and now fast-becoming) an international space agency.

• India’s space achievements today are owed to Narayanan on two vital counts: one for his visionary study of liquid fuels and another for standing against torture and refusing to give in.

• Narayanan gives credit to his fainting under torture for not implicating the top brass of ISRO in the well-fabricated scandal.

Special applause: The director has to be congratulated for creating nail-biting suspense when what would be the Vikas engine is getting tested in the French space research facility.

• Madhavan has accomplished the tough job of taking a technical, scientific thing and communicating it interestingly to movie viewers.

• In the interview sequence, one can see the real Narayanan, not Madhavan, sitting there. This gives viewers an impactful experience.

Why you should watch: Every Indian parent should take their children to this movie and they will understand what patriotism really is.

• To understand how ruthless intelligence agencies can be in stopping developing countries from becoming equal partners in space technology.

• It is an apology from the heart of the people of India to Narayanan for the crimes committed against him by a few heartless men using the state machinery.