Review in the media lauds the recently released TV serial, Rocket Boys as a realistic depiction with suspense and drama, of how India developed its nuclear bomb and achieved mastery of rocket science. But the scientific community is disturbed by the wrong portrayal of their national heroes.
One of the beneficiaries of achievements of ISRO has been the TV medium that beams to high TRP, the rocket launches. For this they should be grateful to the grand masters of Indian science. It is their duty to see that the common man does not get away with a wrong impression of scientists in general and stalwarts in particular.
Unpardonable depiction
Rocket Boys has caricatured pioneer scientists in comic interludes and twisted many facts. Bhabha was shown jumping into the Apsara reactor pool, to start it since they heard it was “swimming pool” reactor! And celebrate with a peg of wine at the rector pool. Unpardonable depictions!
It is a pity; they did not realise that nuclear reactors are in controlled areas where everyone has to wear protective gears. But the worst injustice it did to Indian scientific community was by introducing a fictitious character depicting him as a black sheep among scientists, spying for US. They made the character responsible for the untimely demise of Bhabha. The unkindest cut is that the serial makes him the central figure in the theme close to Bhabha. Was it necessary to cast obnoxious aspersions on Indian scientific community? Another fictitious character depicted as a villain seems to have resemblance of a venerated scientist in India who reached the fringes of earning Nobel Prize and was a staunch nationalist. That process of distortion is further cast in the dialogue to make it dramatic.
Dismissal of basic science
A dialogue includes a sentence attributed to Bhabha: “We do not have uranium but have plenty of thorium, so we can put depleted uranium and thorium from the reactor in a breeder reactor and will be able to breed plutonium of missile grade” and sharing it with the fictitious character while dancing with a peg of whisky. Any science student would know that we can breed fissile Uranium 233 from thorium and not plutonium. The character playing Bhabha’s role says the plan for a thorium Reactor, Purnima, to enable plutonium production from thorium. Purnima was made after almost 10 years after the passing away of Bhabha. Its purpose was to carry out criticality studies with plutonium systems to fine tune design of a nuclear bomb in preparation for the 1974 PNE test.
Bhabha’s visionary ability was that he could indigenously erect a plutonium plant as early as 1964 at a time when there was very little industrial infrastructure in the country. India was the first country outside the 4 weapon states to do that all by itself, a creditable achievement.
Faulted chronology
This apart, the events are in glaring error of chronological order. Abdul Kalam’s biography has been amply depicted as the founding father of our space program with most impressive contributions for any scientist in the world! But to depict him as part of Bhabha’s team in setting up Asia’s first reactor in 1956 is an anachronism. He was then, still in university doing his degree! It is not “rocket science” to realise distortions but a sense of contemporary history! Why did they not have the benefit of a scientific advisor?
The producers could have avoided these flaws and still made the theme interesting! In celluloid industry some twisting of facts may be tolerated but not distorting the theme particularly when depicting world renowned scientists with a serious mission. Bhabha was a connoisseur of western music and a great painter. Inclusion of that facet would have been more fitting to that great personality!
The film makers are doing a great service in entertainment medium but they should consider it as their national duty to keep themselves within limits when dealing with stalwarts lest the common public may take the representation as true history. This caricature has done great injustice to Indian science and scientists!
