Madhavan on transformation for Rocketry, sitting for 18 hours to get hair colour right and wearing braces

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is one of the most anticipated films of the year, which marks the directorial debut of R Madhavan. The film will also see him play the main character, Nambi Narayan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The makers recently released a video where the actor and creative producer, Prakash Nambiar are seen talking about all that went into the actor's transformation, which involved playing the scientist from the age of 29 years to 79. 

Speaking about the challenges, Madhavan said that the script was written in such a way that it was very important for him to look as closely as possible to real-life Nambi Narayan. He called his transformation 'rocket science' about how the team pulled off the looks. "To maneuver the look between our schedule of 43 days was one of our greatest achievements. You will see in the film how the transition of the look is so seamless that you would not even realise how and when the look changed,” he said. 

He further talked about how he had to also work on his teeth' shape to look like his. He wore braces and revealed that it took 1.5 years for it to get back to its original shape. A lot of attention was also given to details like hair colour. The actor said that he had to sit in the chair for 18 hours for three consecutive days as the team was working on getting the hair colour right.

The video shows Madhavan's transformation and working with the scientist on the sets and they look very alike. Prakash Nambiar said that it was getting difficult to understand who is who, especially if they were sitting. Only if they go close to them, they could realise who is Maddy and who is Nambi Narayan. 

The BTS video also shows Suriya and Shah Rukh Khan towards its end. Suriya is seen expressing his shock over the resemblance and excitement to meet Narayan on the sets. The Tamil superstar will also be a part of the film in a cameo role. Shah Rukh Khan can also be spotted in the BTS video. He too plays a cameo role in the Hindi version of the film. 

The film Rocketry: Nambi Effect is based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The scientist was accused of leaking Defence secrets in 1994 and imprisoned, only later to be declared innocent by the Supreme Court in 1996. Narayanan had to fight his own case in the apex court. 

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year and received a standing ovation. The film will release in theatres on July 1 in Tamil, Hindi and English. The film has also been dubbed in Telugu and Kannada.