Rocket Boys 2 Review - India's Rocket Boys Fly High Again

Rocket Boys 2 takes off from where we left Rocket Boys Season 1, with all those set characters and a few more joining as new entries. When Rocket Boys was announced, I thought it would be only about India's rocket missions, but I was wrong. It explored various aspects of Indian space research and nuclear inventions, politics, scientists, and even their personal lives. However messy Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai's personal and love lives were, hardly anyone knew it, and even fewer were interested. We all refer to them as great scientists, but the Rocket Boys exposed their personal lives, especially their love affairs. It looked problematic as people—or should I say, I myself—was expecting a clean, glorifying take on the scientists' lives, but one can't be helped if their real lives were that problematic. They were humans too, right? Anyways, Rocket Boys 2 comes as a fine successor and adds more drama this time, while thrills are reduced since the scientific inventions were almost over in the first part only.Rocket Boys 2 shows the journey of India's greatest scientists as they shape a new era where no one dares challenge their country's sovereignty. From Homi Bhabha's nuclear bomb tests, political turnovers in India, Nehru's demise, Lal Bahadur Shashri's death, Moraraji Desai's political fights with Congress, Indira Gandhi's reign, Bhabha's death, Mehedi Raza's contribution, Pokharan's victory, APJ Abdul Kalam's rise, and Vikram Sarabhai's change of mindset from the peace treaty with American's to India's nuclear test, this web series is an engrossing take on India's history in the 1960s and 1970s. Like I said, there is more drama this time because India's history is so dramatic and engaging that you can get enough content to create a dozen webseries if you want. Did I forget the love story and married lives here? I didn't like them in Rocket Boys 1, and this time there was no difference.The screenplay of Rocket Boys 2 is smart as it divides various important events into 8 different episodes. Every episode has one big event that keeps you interested throughout the long runtime. What's more praiseworthy is that every episode ends on an exciting note, which leaves you curious to know what happens next. The excitement cannot be resisted; you just shift to the next episode at the very next moment. The screenwriting wins here. Abhay Pannu has planned things perfectly, just like a tempestuous drama. It may not be that thrilling, but it's nothing less than a riveting drama. Like the first season, the romance is boring here too. Bhabha's close friendship with his ex-girlfriend, who is now married, doesn't really suit his IQ level. Sarabhai's reconciliation with his wife reminded me of a typical daily soap. Mehendi Raza's psychotic behavior looks childish at first, but somehow covers the loss as you get to know more about it. I didn't really know that carrying a bomb in your briefcase while flying was so easy in the 1960s. Anyway, what's lacking is forgiven for what's good. The glorious achievements of our nation in space research and science are bound to make you feel proud and want to clap for all those great personalities.Talking of performances, Ishwak Singh as Sarabhai is magical yet again. He is so into his character, with that typical Indian accent for highly intricate scientific words. With Jim Sarbh, it was different, as he already has that Parsi and western English accent in real life too. In a couple of scenes, it looked like he was overdoing it, but the rest of the time, oh, sorry, most of the time, he was terrific. Arjun Radhakrishnan's APJ Kalam gets better in season 2, while Regina Cassandra and Saba Azad carry forward what was done in the past. The biggest surprise for me was Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Mehdi Raza. What a powerful performer he is, and this is probably not the first time I am saying this. Season 1 was unlucky to not have given you enough space, but Season 2 got lucky to have done justice to the sheer talent Dibyendu has. People don't remember Mehdi Raza much in the history books, but from now on, they will remember him forever. All thanks to Dibyendu Bhattacharya's supremacy. Charu Shanker as Indira Gandhi is another good surprise here, whereas Rajit Kapur's Nehru, T.M. Karthik, KC Shankar's villainous Mathur, Namit Das as Dey, Vijay Kashyap's Lal Bahadur Shashtri, and every single one left out to be named add more colors to this glorious rainbow of a cast.Whatever fictitious changes are there, they are all for the better. John Abraham's Parmanu showed us a breathtaking version of the Pokhran test, but here we see a different one, which is not that great. Nevertheless, the entire series is so long and entangled that you can easily overlook a few flaws. Some of the dialogues will leave you spellbound. "We let you win the battle, but we won the war," "Your main purpose is to find your purpose," and many more. You get hooked on many one-liners, even though they are scientific. The background score that plays in the beginning and end credits is so nice. It was there in the first season too, and the magic hasn't faded here. The cinematography is fine, and the production design, along with the make-up, is brilliant. Abhay Pannu has another Hit in his hand after season one. It's back-to-back victories for him. We hardly see webseries delivering equally great content for two consecutive seasons, and Rocket Boys is certainly one of the best. Loved Rocket Boys 1? then you'll love Rocket Boys 2 as well. Do not miss this engrossing, inspiring, encouraging, and phenomenal tale of India's Rocket Boys, who raised our flag high up there on the global stage.