Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, starring R Madhavan and based on the life of renowned scientist Nambi Narayanan, had its world premiere at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. Madhavan stated in an interview that he has high expectations for the film. He also revealed that he has made almost no money in the last four years – two years prior to Covid and then again during the pandemic.

Madhavan, who also acted in the film and directed it, was in attendance at the screening, as were Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur and Nambi himself.

Madhavan told Film Companion in an interview that he has a “constant fear” of Rocketry. “I have a son,” he explained. Covid was present. During Covid, I didn’t make any money. Because I was making this film two years before Covid, I didn’t make any money. The one-off chances I took on OTT (Netflix’s Decoupled) to keep the fires burning kept me alive, but aside from that, I haven’t done any films. My most recent film was Vikram Vedha, so there’s always fear.”

Nambi is a former ISRO scientist and aerospace engineer who was falsely accused of espionage while caught up in a spy scandal. In addition to Madhavan, Thakur, and Nambi, CBFC chairperson Prasoon Joshi and Indian musical maestro AR Rahman attended the screening.

On July 1, 2022, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect will be released in theatres. The film also stars Phyllis Logan, Vincent Riotta, Ron Donaiche, Simran, Rajit Kapur, Ravi Raghavendra, Misha Ghoshal, Gulshan Grover, Karthik Kumar, and Dinesh Prabhakar.

Superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Suriya will make cameo appearances in Madhavan’s directorial debut. It was shot in multiple languages at the same time, including Hindi, Tamil, and English, and will be released in Telugu, Malayalam, and Tamil.