Maddy says he broke his jaw to look more like Nambi Narayan

CHENNAI: Actor Madhavan, fondly called ‘Maddy’, who makes his directorial debut with Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, is not sure about directing another film, anytime soon. The actor said he finds the process very ‘exhausting’.

Madhavan, who has written, directed and has also acted in Rocketry, added that his wife Sarita, too, wants him to focus on acting, for now. The actor wanted to do the film for two reasons, one for the dream of playing multiple age-groups and second for his interest in engineering, and the film - Rocketry is a tribute to the former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayan who achieved beyond limits that any layman would know in Rocket science.

The actor wants to bring forth the life of Nambi to the world and he bore all the effort on his shoulders. He also said in a press meet that one month before the film went on floors, the previous director, Ananth Mahadevan couldn’t do it for the right reasons. When it came down to shelve the project or drop it all, the 52-year-old actor, took charge, making his maiden directorial.

To take on every aspect of film-making is a Himalayan task. Madhavan has been all over the production in directing, acting, producing and also writing lyrics for the film.

Commendably, the actor also revealed that there had been several crazy stuffs that meddled with the production. He had to break his jaw to look more like Nambi Narayan and it took one-and-half years.

The film, a biopic on former scientist and aerospace engineer Nambi Narayanan. It showcases how he was falsely accused of espionage and subsequently, how all cases against him were dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Rocketry: The Nambi effect starring Madhavan, Shah Rukh Khan, Suriya and Simran in leading roles is to be released on July 1, in English, Tamil and Hindi.