Rocket Boys, a new web show centred around the lives of Homi Bhabha (played by Jim Sarbh) and Vikram Sarabhai (played by Ishwak Singh), will trace the life arc of the two scientists who pioneered path-breaking research in different scientific domains.
Bhabha and Sarabhai, hailed as the founding fathers of the Indian nuclear and space programmes, respectively, worked at establishing institutions and practices that were seminal for the experiments in the atomic energy and space sciences.
But not just science — their inquisitive minds also lead them to nurture and nourish other walks of human life, from dance to music to architecture. The duo personified the holistic.
Bhabha’s artistic pursuits were equally if not more apparent than his research endeavours. Bhabha’s consonance with music was a well-known trait from an early age. His interest in fine art and literature were inculcated via the vast collection of records and artworks available in the home he grew up in Bombay. Bhabha carried these inclinations with him across the shore as an adult to Cambridge, England, ensuring that he took out enough time to rear them.
Bhabha’s knowledge and passion came alive in the corridors of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), adorned as they were with paintings that were handpicked by the man himself.
Bhabha also made it a point to personally supervise the construction of the Atomic Energy Establishment (later renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre), zeroing in on the architecture and the flower gardens that surrounded the buildings only after careful considerations.
It was this impartial attachment to the fields of science and arts alike which led CV Raman to introduce him to the Indian Academy of Science as ‘the modern equivalent of Da Vinci’.
On the other hand, Sarabhai’s passion for arts materialised more in the support and encouragement he lend to his wife’s dance than his personal endeavours. When Sarabhai – one of India’s greatest dancers of all time – was occupied with honing her craft and touring the globe with her performances, Vikram stood, as she calls him in her autobiography, as a ‘pillar of strength’.
Vikram even partook in some aspects of her performances too, designing the lighting of a stage show or a studio in their house she would practice and perform in. Vikram and Mrinalini jointly set up Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in Ahmedabad in 1949. The Inter Art festival of the school was subsequently named after Vikram Sarabhai.
As Bhabha and Sarabhai’s worldview comes to screen with Rocket Boys on February 4, one can only hope that it diminishes some of the misconceptions that have found their places in the minds of masses over time, leading to a recognition of the sharedness of the fields of science and arts and their necessary co-existence.
