Rocketry film to release on July 1 features Shah Rukh Khan and Suriya in cameo roles
Actor R Madhavan called superstar on Monday Shahrukh Khan And Suriya made a guest appearance in his upcoming directorial debut “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect” at no cost. The actor-filmmaker also gave a shout out to the megastar Amitabh Bachchan and star producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas took to social media to thank him for his support for his film.
“Whether it is Suriya or (Shah Rukh) Khan sahab, none of them charge anything for the film. They don’t charge anything for the caravan, costumes and assistants. Suriya along with his crew for the shoot in Mumbai He took off. His money. He didn’t even charge for the flights or for the dialogue writer who translated his lines into Tamil.
“There are a lot of good people in the film industry. But, I am from outside. People have helped me a lot. On my request Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan) or Priyanka Chopra posts a tweet (to support the film) I am grateful to him for his love and respect.”
The 51-year-old actor has also produced, written and produced “Rocketry”, a biopic on Nambi Narayanan, a former Indian Space Research Organization scientist and aerospace engineer who was falsely accused of espionage.
Madhavan said that he had discussed the idea of the film with Shah Rukh when they were working on “Zero” (2018), in which he had an extended guest appearance.
“Even when I attended his birthday party, he remembered and said ‘Maddie, I want to do a role in your film. Just let me go through the background.’
‘ I thanked him for his kind words and he said, ‘No, no. I’m serious’,” he recalled.
Two days later, when Madhavan’s wife Sarita asked him to thank Shah Rukh for his gesture, the actor said he sent a message to the star’s manager asking him to express her gratitude.
“Soon, his manager called me and said, ‘Khan sahab is asking when do you want dates?’ I said I didn’t want to make a castle in the air. But he was very serious. Then, I said there was no background role for him, an important part.”
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While Shah Rukh stars as himself in the Hindi and English versions of the film, Suriya stars as himself in Tamil.
Describing “Rocketry” as “a superhero story” told through a commercial film, Madhavan said he hopes more films will be made celebrating the success stories of scientists, engineers and IT experts.
Last month, the film premiered at the Marche du Film section of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival in France and Madhavan said he hopes he has made the country proud internationally.
Asked whether films based on science and technology should get support from the government, the actor said any kind of film should be promoted by the film industry itself.
“I don’t think the government should give its support (to films established in the field of science). I think we, the people of the film industry, should take this initiative and make these films after some research. Where the government Supports a film, it looks like a propaganda film.
I don’t think this is correct. The government should do its job and the film industry should too.”
Madhavan also addressed the growing popularity of South films in the North and said that a good film will work irrespective of the language.
“Four films from the south like ‘KGF’, ‘Baahubali’, ‘Pushpa’ and ‘RRR’ have become hits. It is not that all the films there have been hits. Also, it is not that our Hindi films did not work.’ Movies like ‘The Kashmir Files’, ‘Gangubai’ and ‘Bhool Bhulaiya 2’ have also worked.
“The films that have worked have a good story and every actor has put in years for these projects. Getting into the character, so much hard work, the audience sees all these things. If the film is good, it should be a superhit. No matter what the language,” he said.
“Rocketry”, which has also been dubbed in Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada, is slated to release on July 1.