‘Rocketry’ is a biographical drama based on the life of ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, but do you know who is scientist Nambi Narayanan? Madhavan was so inspired by whose life that he decided to make a film on it. Let us tell you about the inspiring and dramatic journey of Nambi Narayanan… Nambi Narayanan was a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) who was arrested on charges of espionage. However, later all the allegations against him were proved to be false and the government had to compensate him.
S. Nambi Narayanan was born on 12 December 1941 in a Tamil family. He completed his primary education from DVD School, Nagerkol. After this, Nambi, a bright student, took M.Tech degree from an engineering college in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. In 1969, Narayanan won the prestigious NASA Fellowship, after which he went to Princeton University in the US to study. Where he got help in understanding his goal along with rocket technology.
After returning to India, Nambi Narayanan started working in ISRO. He was the one who brought liquid fuel rocket technology to India. Earlier rocket technology in the country was dependent on solid propellant, but in 1970 Nambi brought liquid fuel rocket technology to India and with this fuel rocket technology was introduced in the country. Which was used by ISRO for many of its rockets including Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Nambi Narayanan worked with Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and APJ Abdul Kalam in his career.
In 1994, while working at ISRO, Narayanan was falsely accused of leaking classified information related to India’s internal programs. There were allegations that he shared information about the internal program to two Maldivian nationals, who sold ISRO rocket engine information to Pakistan. After these allegations the Kerala government arrested him. Nambi was released after spending 50 days in jail and enduring police brutality.
Nambi Narayanan fought a long legal battle to prove his innocence. The charges against Nambi were dismissed by the CBI in 1996, after which the Supreme Court also acquitted him in 1998 and asked the Kerala government to pay compensation for the torture. After winning this case, a big upheaval was seen in the Kerala government also. In April 2021, the Supreme Court also ordered a CBI investigation into the conspiracy against Nambi Narayanan.
After winning the espionage case, the Kerala government gave Rs 1.3 crore to Nambi as compensation. In 2019, Narayanan was also awarded the Padma Bhushan award, India’s third most prestigious award, by the government.